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“MORNING BUSINESS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S5158-S5159 on April 10, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MORNING BUSINESS
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business with Senators allowed to speak during that period for up to 5 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Louisiana.
POST-WAR IRAQ
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to take just a few minutes to speak about the unfolding victory in Iraq and to speak about a specific point that I am going to be spending some time working on throughout the course of the next couple of days and as we spend some time, in a recess, traveling back to our States and visiting other places in the world that have been supportive in terms of our alliance in Iraq.
I want to say, just before we break tonight, that the people of Louisiana have watched, with relief and exuberance and pride, the exploits and the work of our troops in Iraq. We have been proud of each and every soldier and the work they are performing under very difficult circumstances, but they are performing beautifully, exceptionally, as expected. We are very proud of their work, the Active Forces as well as the Reserve Forces.
We know we have done many things right in Iraq. We know there are some weaknesses we will address. The military is always the first to say--which is why I enjoy working so closely with them--this is what we did right and we are proud of it and we are going to do it better. But we don't mind admitting there are some things we could do better next time. And lessons learned is something that our military goes through after each and every exercise, which is why they are so good, and why we get better and better and better. I am very proud of that kind of approach.
So as we watch this victory unfold in Iraq, with every toppling of every statue, with the destruction of every image of Saddam Hussein, we can begin to build a new image, a new vision for the people of Iraq, one they so richly deserve and have waited decades and decades to arrive. And it is our pride and our great joy that America and Britain and our allies are helping to bring about this vision, as we speak tonight on the floor of the Senate.
We have been involved today in many other important issues, but, of course, there is no issue more important to this Senate or to this Congress or to this country right now, or to the world, than what is unfolding in Iraq as we speak.
I want to just make a note about one specific aspect of the postbattle plan for Iraq. I am going to be working closely with many committees in the Senate to help to fashion that plan, which, of course, will be broad and comprehensive. Hopefully, we will have bipartisan support.
The President will submit many of his own ideas. The international community will contribute. I, for one, have felt very strongly that our military should continue to lead that effort. While they are soldiers first, and soldiers always, they have tremendous skills and abilities when it comes to postconflict periods, when the battle is actually over and the bullets stop flying and the construction and reconstruction begins. Not that our military would want to be engaged over a long period of time, but there are, most certainly, skills that our military can bring to establishing the, at least, early stages of that civil affairs network and framework.
So I am pleased to see the House and the Senate moving back to the administration's original position, which was to allow our military to lead that effort and the Pentagon, as opposed to the State Department; most certainly for the U.S. to continue that leadership position as opposed to the U.N. The U.N. should be a partner, the international community should be a partner, but the U.S. should lead that effort.
I think that is the way we are moving, and I most certainly support that. And I could venture to say, without seeing any polls, I know the people of Louisiana would want that kind of arrangement to be made.
In one part of the post battle plan for Iraq, the reconstruction plan, I am hoping that we would strongly consider--and I will be filing a resolution in just a few days, as soon as we can get some of the details worked out, and, hopefully, file it in a bipartisan way--a resolution that would suggest that we help the people of Iraq establish a permanent trust fund for their long-term economic development, a trust fund based on the revenues received from the production of oil and gas.
The reason I want to spend just a few minutes speaking about this idea is there have been several articles written. We have done, in our office, some research on this subject. And I have had a great deal of experience with the people of Louisiana with this concept. And we are not the only State that has created trust funds from the oil and gas reserves.
Just like Iraq, although we are not a nation, Louisiana produces a tremendous amount of oil and gas and has some of the richest reserves in the United States.
Texas is also a State that has tremendous resources and established, years ago, a permanent trust fund. The proceeds of that fund are directed to the support and maintenance and the strengthening of their two major universities in Texas. And the billions of dollars that have flowed into this trust fund have provided educational opportunities and research opportunities that have led to jobs creation and economic strength in the State of Texas.
The State of Alaska probably has the largest of such a trust fund, called the Permanent Alaska Trust Fund. Not only have those resources been used to help Alaska strengthen its economy, but there are also, literally, rebates that go from that fund to each individual citizen of Alaska. There are only 500,000 people, but the fund has worked in many wonderful ways.
I will suggest through this resolution that we in the Congress lay out an idea to create such a trust fund for the people of Iraq, run by the people of Iraq, to make sure of that diminishing resource, although they supply now 6 percent of the world's oil, and while I am convinced that our technology working with them will find more oil, and potentially gas reserves, that is a diminishing resource, just as in Louisiana and Texas and Alaska. And beginning a plan now for that money to be used in appropriate ways for education, for health care, for economic development, for improving the infrastructure in Iraq and setting up in a way that protects those moneys so they can be used for the people of Iraq would serve as a great foundation or at least a significant part of a plan for reconstruction for Iraq.
In conclusion, the people are talented and industrious, the infrastructure is there to be built on. With a few good and solid ideas like carving out a trust fund with specific funding from their oil and gas reserves, the people of Iraq can enjoy those reserves and benefit from them, not just in the next year but in many years to come.
I yield the floor.
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