To the chagrin of Jewish groups, two Jewish senators rallied to Iraq’s defense on the Senate floor last week to block language in a resolution criticizing Baghdad for “gross violations of human rights.”
Sens. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who separately visited Iraq earlier this year, objected to an amendment sponsored by Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) as being an obstacle to Iraqi rapprochement with Israel — even after D’Amato eliminated sweeping language that would have imposed all available sanctions on Iraq.
The legislative battle occurred last Thursday as the Senate debated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control Act of 1990, which it eventually adopted 92-0, without either version of the amendment proposed by D’Amato.
The bill, which has not yet come up for a vote in the House of Representatives, would allow the president to impose sanctions on countries that violate international accords banning the use of chemical and biological weapons.
Possible sanctions include bans on U.S. economic and military aid, credit guarantees from the Export-Import Bank, and loans from U.S. banks.
The Bush administration said Friday it was concerned about language in the Senate version of the bill that might infringe on the president’s constitutional power to conduct foreign policy.
The administration also lobbied against D’Amato’s amendment, which would have specifically imposed sweeping sanctions on Iraq, unless the president certified that Baghdad had opened all “suspect” biological, chemical and nuclear sites to international inspection.
DELAY OF 30 TO 60 DAYS URGED
To avoid U.S. sanctions, Iraq also would have had to ratify the 1972 Convention on Biological Weapons, which Israel has not signed either.
D’Amato’s tougher amendment was co-sponsored by Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.). D’Amato withdrew it but later offered softer language critical of Iraqi human rights and calling for enforcement of U.S. sanctions laws against Iraq.
But the modified version could not muster the “sufficient second” necessary for further consideration.
Specter, a longtime supporter of Israel who has repeatedly called for tough laws against terrorism, called the D’Amato amendment “a no-win situation,” that might “do considerable damage to the efforts of the U.S. government” to bring about Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
He said Arab diplomats have told him “the United States does not approach the Arab nations with sufficient dignity and with sufficient courtesy,” of ten treating them with condescension.
Metzenbaum said the United States should give Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “30 or 60 days to see whether or not he will take a step in the right direction” toward reconciliation with Israel.
Jess Hordes, Washington representative of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said Friday that he was “somewhat disappointed” that the D’Amato language was not voted on. His office telephoned 10 senators urging them to support it.
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