[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4655 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.4655
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-
eight
An Act
To establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

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This Act may be cited as the ``Iraq Liberation Act of 1998''.

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The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On September 22, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, starting an 8
year war in which Iraq employed chemical weapons against Iranian
troops and ballistic missiles against Iranian cities.
(2) In February 1988, Iraq forcibly relocated Kurdish civilians
from their home villages in the Anfal campaign, killing an
estimated 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds.
(3) On March 16, 1988, Iraq used chemical weapons against Iraqi
Kurdish civilian opponents in the town of Halabja, killing an
estimated 5,000 Kurds and causing numerous birth defects that
affect the town today.
(4) On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded and began a 7 month
occupation of Kuwait, killing and committing numerous abuses
against Kuwaiti civilians, and setting Kuwait's oil wells ablaze
upon retreat.
(5) Hostilities in Operation Desert Storm ended on February 28,
1991, and Iraq subsequently accepted the ceasefire conditions
specified in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (April
3, 1991) requiring Iraq, among other things, to disclose fully and
permit the dismantlement of its weapons of mass destruction
programs and submit to long-term monitoring and verification of
such dismantlement.
(6) In April 1993, Iraq orchestrated a failed plot to
assassinate former President George Bush during his April 14-16,
1993, visit to Kuwait.
(7) In October 1994, Iraq moved 80,000 troops to areas near the
border with Kuwait, posing an imminent threat of a renewed invasion
of or attack against Kuwait.
(8) On August 31, 1996, Iraq suppressed many of its opponents
by helping one Kurdish faction capture Irbil, the seat of the
Kurdish regional government.
(9) Since March 1996, Iraq has systematically sought to deny
weapons inspectors from the United Nations Special Commission on
Iraq (UNSCOM) access to key facilities and documents, has on
several occasions endangered the safe operation of UNSCOM
helicopters transporting UNSCOM personnel in Iraq, and has
persisted in a pattern of deception and concealment regarding the
history of its weapons of mass destruction programs.
(10) On August 5, 1998, Iraq ceased all cooperation with
UNSCOM, and subsequently threatened to end long-term monitoring
activities by the International Atomic Energy Agency and UNSCOM.
(11) On August 14, 1998, President Clinton signed Public Law
105-235, which declared that ``the Government of Iraq is in
material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations''
and urged the President ``to take appropriate action, in accordance
with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to
bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations.''.
(12) On May 1, 1998, President Clinton signed Public Law 105-
174, which made $5,000,000 available for assistance to the Iraqi
democratic opposition for such activities as organization,
training, communication and dissemination of information,
developing and implementing agreements among opposition groups,
compiling information to support the indictment of Iraqi officials
for war crimes, and for related purposes.

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IRAQ.
It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to
remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to
promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that
regime.

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(a) Authority To Provide Assistance.--The President may provide to
the Iraqi democratic opposition organizations designated in accordance
with section 5 the following assistance:
(1) Broadcasting assistance.--(A) Grant assistance to such
organizations for radio and television broadcasting by such
organizations to Iraq.
(B) There is authorized to be appropriated to the United States
Information Agency $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1999 to carry out
this paragraph.
(2) Military assistance.--(A) The President is authorized to
direct the drawdown of defense articles from the stocks of the
Department of Defense, defense services of the Department of
Defense, and military education and training for such
organizations.
(B) The aggregate value (as defined in section 644(m) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961) of assistance provided under this
paragraph may not exceed $97,000,000.
(b) Humanitarian Assistance.--The Congress urges the President to
use existing authorities under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to
provide humanitarian assistance to individuals living in areas of Iraq
controlled by organizations designated in accordance with section 5,
with emphasis on addressing the needs of individuals who have fled to
such areas from areas under the control of the Saddam Hussein regime.
(c) Restriction on Assistance.--No assistance under this section
shall be provided to any group within an organization designated in
accordance with section 5 which group is, at the time the assistance is
to be provided, engaged in military cooperation with the Saddam Hussein
regime.
(d) Notification Requirement.--The President shall notify the
congressional committees specified in section 634A of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 at least 15 days in advance of each obligation
of assistance under this section in accordance with the procedures
applicable to reprogramming notifications under section 634A.
(e) Reimbursement Relating to Military Assistance.--
(1) In general.--Defense articles, defense services, and
military education and training provided under subsection (a)(2)
shall be made available without reimbursement to the Department of
Defense except to the extent that funds are appropriated pursuant
to paragraph (2).
(2) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized to
be appropriated to the President for each of the fiscal years 1998
and 1999 such sums as may be necessary to reimburse the applicable
appropriation, fund, or account for the value (as defined in
section 644(m) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961) of defense
articles, defense services, or military education and training
provided under subsection (a)(2).
(f) Availability of Funds.--(1) Amounts authorized to be
appropriated under this section are authorized to remain available
until expended.
(2) Amounts authorized to be appropriated under this section are in
addition to amounts otherwise available for the purposes described in
this section.
(g) Authority To Provide Assistance.--Activities under this section
(including activities of the nature described in subsection (b)) may be
undertaken notwithstanding any other provision of law.

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(a) Initial Designation.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall designate one or more
Iraqi democratic opposition organizations that the President determines
satisfy the criteria set forth in subsection (c) as eligible to receive
assistance under section 4.
(b) Designation of Additional Organizations.--At any time
subsequent to the initial designation pursuant to subsection (a), the
President may designate one or more additional Iraqi democratic
opposition organizations that the President determines satisfy the
criteria set forth in subsection (c) as eligible to receive assistance
under section 4.
(c) Criteria for Designation.--In designating an organization
pursuant to this section, the President shall consider only
organizations that--
(1) include a broad spectrum of Iraqi individuals, groups, or
both, opposed to the Saddam Hussein regime; and
(2) are committed to democratic values, to respect for human
rights, to peaceful relations with Iraq's neighbors, to maintaining
Iraq's territorial integrity, and to fostering cooperation among
democratic opponents of the Saddam Hussein regime.
(d) Notification Requirement.--At least 15 days in advance of
designating an Iraqi democratic opposition organization pursuant to
this section, the President shall notify the congressional committees
specified in section 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 of his
proposed designation in accordance with the procedures applicable to
reprogramming notifications under section 634A.

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Consistent with section 301 of the Foreign Relations Authorization
Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 (Public Law 102-138), House Concurrent
Resolution 137, 105th Congress (approved by the House of
Representatives on November 13, 1997), and Senate Concurrent Resolution
78, 105th Congress (approved by the Senate on March 13, 1998), the
Congress urges the President to call upon the United Nations to
establish an international criminal tribunal for the purpose of
indicting, prosecuting, and imprisoning Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi
officials who are responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide,
and other criminal violations of international law.

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It is the sense of the Congress that once the Saddam Hussein regime
is removed from power in Iraq, the United States should support Iraq's
transition to democracy by providing immediate and substantial
humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people, by providing democracy
transition assistance to Iraqi parties and movements with democratic
goals, and by convening Iraq's foreign creditors to develop a
multilateral response to Iraq's foreign debt incurred by Saddam
Hussein's regime.

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Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise
speak to the use of United States Armed Forces (except as provided in
section 4(a)(2)) in carrying out this Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.

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Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 — HR. 4655

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