U.S. NONPROLIFERATION POLICY AFTER IRAQ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DEC 01. 2003 HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 4, 2003 Serial No. 108-38 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international_relations 87-494PDF U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Henry D. Sokolski: Prepared statement and additional materials submitted Questions for the Record Submitted to the Honorable John R. Bolton by the Honorable Betty McCollum, a Representative in Congress from the U.S. NONPROLIFERATION POLICY AFTER IRAQ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2003 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:34 a.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry Hyde (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Mr. BEREUTER. [Presiding.] The Committee will come to order. The subject of today's hearing, U.S. nonproliferation policy after Iraq, is one of transcendent importance. It demands our attention. The prospect of rogue states or terrorists in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is a terrifying one. There can be no acceptable margin of error in our effort to protect ourselves from this mortal threat, for the measure of our inadequacy will be unprecedented devastation. I will not attempt to list the many problems and tasks we face as even a lengthy treatment would not begin to exhaust the subject. However, let me offer a few important questions. How could we combat the fact that many of these weapons are extraordinarily easy to make and to transport? How does one persuade or compel a country to cease its activities, especially if it already possesses the means to proceed on its own? How can one prevent the further spread of the knowledge and technical capacity to produce WMD when this information seems to be so readily available? Must the United States take up this challenge alone? Can we do it alone? I am hopeful that this hearing will shed some light on these important issues. The unbounded nature of the threat evokes Churchill's words on his assumption of office at Britain's darkest moment. He said, "You asked what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory, victory at all cost, victory in spite of all terrorists. Victory however long and hard the road may be for without victory there is no survival." For us, however, there can be no final victory. We must divest ourselves of all illusions. We cannot uninvent these weapons nor erase the knowledge that makes the impossible. Therefore, we must accept the fact that the WMD threat will probably be us forever. Our vigilance and our commitment must also therefore be enduring. |