Tom Lantos

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in strong support of this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express the condolences of the United States Congress and the American people to the people of Pakistan and the people of India who have suffered so grievously from the horrendous earthquake that struck South Asia just 10 days ago. Mr. Speaker, the day after the earthquake, I received a telephone call from the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. The President requested, in the strongest terms possible, assistance not only from our Nation but from other donors around the globe. I immediately reached out to our own government and to other friendly governments and to nongovernmental organizations, and I am profoundly grateful that additional aid is flowing to the people of Pakistan as we speak. Each day, the news from Pakistan grows worse. The death toll now seems certain to rise above 55,000. More than 2 million people are homeless in the midst of recent torrential rainstorms, and the freezing cold of winter is fast approaching the mountainous regions most affected. Landslides and poor weather have hampered relief operations, heightening the misery of the injured and the destitute as they wait for help. Relief supplies still have not reached many remote areas where whole villages have been devastated. Over 30 nations, led by the United States, have rushed to aid and comfort the victims of the earthquake and its horrible after-effects. With natural disasters such as the South Asia earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami, the world has seen the generous heart of the American people. Our country has committed $50 million in initial relief supplies only from our government. We have also dedicated eight military helicopters to fly humanitarian missions, and we have transported over 70 tons of relief supplies to the neediest in the most remote areas. Mr. Speaker, the United States counts Pakistan as a strong ally in the war against terrorism, and it was my great pleasure recently to welcome President Musharraf to New York. Our assistance thus far proves that the United States is a solid friend of the Pakistani people. I urge our government and this Congress to support additional assistance to the people of Pakistan, India, and Kashmir. Our resolution offers the condolences of the House of Representatives and of the American people to the families, to the communities, and to the governments of Pakistan and India. It welcomes the humanitarian relief offered by other governments, the United Nations and expresses gratitude for the courageous work being performed by individuals providing aid, relief and assistance, including U.S. civilian and military personnel, under often extremely dangerous conditions. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), a distinguished member of our committee. (Mr. CROWLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I am delighted to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), a distinguished member of the Committee on International Relations and the chairman of the Democratic Caucus. (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation, and I would first like to thank the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), for his hard work and long-standing advocacy for orphans and vulnerable children, particularly those affected by HIV/AIDS. I also want to congratulate the outstanding efforts of the sponsor of this legislation, my neighbor, friend and colleague from the San Francisco Bay area, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee). Mr. Speaker, the world faces an insidious and horrifying threat to human life in the form of HIV/AIDS. This deadly pandemic has left millions of men and women in its wake, but they are not its only victims. Mr. Speaker, a child is orphaned by HIV/AIDS every 14 seconds. Let me repeat this staggering statistic: every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Today, by passing this legislation, we take a step to help relieve the world's orphans and vulnerable children of the suffering they endure at such alarming rates. As of midyear 2004, there were over 15 million children worldwide who were identified as orphans, more than 12 million of whom live in Africa. We expect by the year 2010 this figure will climb to 25 million children. Mr. Speaker, that means that in 5 years there will be more HIV/AIDS orphans than the combined population of 18 of our States. Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming have a combined population which will equal the number of HIV/AIDS orphans. Our government has made a global commitment to combating HIV/AIDS. Now we must provide international leadership and do our share to highlight the suffering of children and bring hope to the world's future generations. This bill is limited in scope, but it does represent our political will and our moral determination to wage battle against child misery in the developing world. I recognize of course that our agencies on the frontlines of this disease are already doing a great deal to aid poor children. However, this effort needs to be coordinated and brought to the attention of leaders in the Congress and around the world. The legislation we are considering is important because it designates a Special Adviser to coordinate and support all of our efforts to protect orphaned and vulnerable children in poor, developing countries. The legislation will promote accountability for U.S. dollars that are given to programs to help orphans. Mr. Speaker, our legislation will ensure that donor nations do not constantly reinvent the wheel as aid is provided to orphans in the developing world. The Special Adviser created by this legislation will spread aggressively best practices in assisting orphans to aid agencies and foreign governments around the world. The orphans of HIV/AIDS around the globe are among the most vulnerable people on our planet. If we care for them, we can overcome this crisis and turn the tide against AIDS and the ravages of poverty. I urge all of my colleagues to vote in support of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), the author of this legislation.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen), our distinguished colleague and a physician herself.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in marking the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). Established in 1995, the Foundation was created to employ in peaceful scientific pursuits scientists from the former Soviet Union. The Congress adopted legislation in 1992 to create the CRDF to provide grants for joint scientific research between scientists from the countries of the former Soviet Union and the United States. The effort is to fund non-military research and development projects, to provide employment and advancement of science with scientists that otherwise might be forced to seek employment with rogue nations using their knowledge and experience with weapons of mass destruction and other military research in order to support their families. In 1995 the CRDF was formally established by the Director of the National Science Foundation. Since that time the organization has put former Soviet scientists to work on a myriad of peaceful projects that have contributed to a better life for people around the globe. Mr. Speaker, the current Chair of the Board of CRDF is Gloria Duffy from the San Francisco Bay Area. In the Clinton Administration, Gloria was U.S. Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and there she focused on preventing the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons from the countries of the former Soviet Union. After serving in the Department of Defense, Gloria became the President and CEO of the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, the nation's largest, oldest and most distinguished civic forum. Under Gloria's able direction, the Commonwealth Club organizes some 400 forums each year on public policy issues which are held in person, on radio and television, and on the Internet. One of the best examples of exactly what CRDF does and of the creative talent that goes into its work is an article by Gloria Duffy that appeared in The Commonwealth (September 15, 2005), the publication of the Commonwealth Club. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the article, ``Teeth Whitening and Terrorism,'' by Gloria Duffy be placed in the Record, and I urge all of my colleagues to read it. [From the Commonwealth, Sept. 15, 2005] Teeth Whitening and Terrorism (By Gloria C. Duffy) Peter the Great began the long and distinguished history of Russian science in 1724, creating the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg to ensure that Russia kept pace with the rest of Europe in contributing to the scientific discoveries of the age. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union continued to pour funds into science. But under the Soviets, much of Russia's superb scientific training and research was turned to military purposes, to create nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The majority of scientists worked for the government. When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the cash- strapped governments of the former Soviet states had little money to continue supporting the work of their chemists, physicists, geologists, mathematicians and biologists. So they abruptly cut the scientists' funding. This personal disaster for the scientists was also tragic for their societies, which could benefit so greatly from their contributions to medicine, industry and the quality of life. Of particular concern to the international community: because of their work during the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of these scientists had critical knowledge of how to build weapons of mass destruction. In an era when terrorists and rogue countries are seeking nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, these legions of unemployed or underemployed scientists present a very real threat. One story from the early 1990s, perhaps apocryphal, tells of a planeload of Russian scientists stopped by authorities on the runway at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, bound for Iran, or North Korea or Iraq. Enter a Riverside, California, Congressman, George Brown, with a bright idea. An industrial physicist and chairman of the House Science Committee, in 1992 Brown wrote legislation creating the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). Set up as a nonprofit, non-governmental organization by the U.S. National Science Foundation, CRDF would fund collaboration between the U.S. and former Soviet scientific communities, the two greatest scientific groups in the world, which had been cut off from one another during the Cold War. CRDF would help scientists in the FSU to continue their contributions to world scientific knowledge, and to create more prosperous economies in their region. The Foundation would employ former Soviet weapons scientists on civilian research projects, giving them an alternative to selling their knowledge to other countries or terrorist groups. Congressman Brown died in 1999, but CRDF was born in 1995 and will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Washington, D.C. in October. In the past decade, the Foundation has raised and channeled $249 million, in taxpayer dollars, private foundation and corporate funding, for joint scientific research. CRDF has run research competitions and given hundreds of grants for American-FSU research. It has provided travel grants for scientists from the 12 former Soviet states to attend conferences or visit colleagues in the United States, in many cases for the first time in their lives. CRDF has provided major scientific research equipment-- spectrometers, lasers, electron microscopes--to consortia of researchers across Eurasia, who share use of the equipment. CRDF has funded fellowships for young scientists at Russian universities and built a geodynamic research facility in Kyrgyzstan. It has refitted an oceanographic vessel, the Professor Kaganovskiy, so teams of U.S. and Russian researchers can measure the health of the Arctic Ocean's Pollock fish population. CRDF has launched a collaborative research project on treatment of HIV/AIDS. It has funded joint research by an Ohio start-up company and a Russian institute on advanced cancer detection technology, and funded training of Russian hospital staffs in infection control to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. After 9/11, CRDF established a joint U.S.-Russian research project on defense against bioterrorism, tapping the considerable Russian knowledge growing from their longtime biological weapons program. CRDF has done all of this with low overhead, and with matching funds from the governments in the former Soviet countries. And the Foundation has paired scientists with companies and investors to explore the commercial potential of the joint research, so that it will eventually help the economies of that region and beyond. Some CRDF research projects have produced commercially viable products, including an energy-saving cryogenic process for refrigerating produce during transport that is already in use in the United States. My personal favorite among these success stories is teeth whitening strips. Every time you see a TV ad for these, think about how the method for making these strips adhere to the teeth came from one of CRDF's U.S.-Russian research projects. And with terrorists on the hunt for nuclear weapons, CRDF has recently broadened its geographical range to provide former weapons scientists in Iraq and Libya with productive civilian alternatives for their skills. On October 18, Marta Brown, widow of the late congressman, will be in Washington to help CRDF mark its 10th birthday. Kudos to Congressman Brown for a great idea, and to the U.S. and foreign officials, CRDF's dedicated staff, the participating scientists, funders and investors, and the volunteers who serve on its board for building this unique institution.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the opening of the new San Mateo High School and the dedication of the Thomas C. Mohr Clock Tower, in my Congressional district. San Mateo High School has been on the same property since 1927, but is being rebuilt so that once again the splendor of the school and the extraordinary students who attend will be paired with the elegant architecture they so richly deserve. Mr. Speaker, the people of San Mateo County agreed in the year 2000 that the six high schools in the San Mateo Union High School District were in need of repairs. Unfortunately shortly after the renovation of San Mateo High School was initiated it became clear that the existing structure was seismically unsafe. As a result of this discovery, the students and staff suddenly found themselves facing a complete reconstruction of their school and were moved into modular classrooms, which have been used for the past four years. The principal architect of the reconstruction bonds for the San Mateo Union High School District and San Mateo High School is the former superintendent Thomas C. Mohr. Now hopefully enjoying a peaceful retirement, Superintendent Mohr spent a distinguished 43-year career in public education, working as a teacher, counselor, principal, district level administrator and Superintendent. His strong leadership and devotion to the school district led to the clock tower being named after him. Like any construction project, there were certainly bumps in the road during the past four years but I was delighted to witness how the whole community has come together around the school not only through voting for a bond to revitalize the school but through groups such as the San Mateo High School Foundation, Parent Teacher Organization, Booster Groups and Alumni, which raised funds for an open air amphitheatre and new all-weather track, among other improved amenities. Mr. Speaker, I commend the community for undertaking the renovation and necessary seismic updates. The extraordinarily beautiful building incorporates many parts of the historic structure, down to murals and the ``haphazardly placed bricks,'' as the architect Paul Bunton appropriately describes them. The new modern structure has expanded the size of the school by 46,000 square feet, yet kept the historic facade. After a somewhat arduous four year project the 1425 students along with the faculty, staff and community as a whole should be commended for their patience in seeing this important project through. On October 15, 2005, the school will officially be dedicated and I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the opening of new San Mateo High School and the Dedication of the Thomas C. Mohr Clock Tower.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and celebrate with my amazingly diverse constituents in the 12th Congressional District of California Hispanic Heritage Month. I am grateful that September 15th through October 15th has been set aside to commemorate the extraordinary heritage and the significant contributions that people of Hispanic descent have made to the United States. Hispanic and Latino influence predates the establishment of our Nation and can be seen in the discovery and founding, as well as the continued prosperity of America. The influence of Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and every other American of Hispanic descent, has enriched our country. Currently, 26 Hispanic Americans serve in the House of Representatives, and two serve in the Senate. In every war in American history, Hispanic Americans have displayed valor and courage. Over 1.1 million Hispanic Americans have served in the U.S. armed forces. Indeed, 41 men of Hispanic heritage have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. KQED, a nationally recognized public broadcaster, has awarded the following four outstanding individuals for their work in the community through the 2005 Latino Heritage Local Heroes. They are but a few of the wonderful people who have worked to make my community great. Mr. Speaker, Felix Bedolla, a Northern California native, has served in multiple leadership roles in the arts, education, and youth mentoring. Mr. Bedolla is the program director of Aldea/Nuestra Esperanza, which is a Latino Multi-Service Center offering drug, alcohol and mental health counseling and treatment services, parent support groups, Latino youth mentoring programs, and gang violence suppression programs. Carlotta del Portillo, the Dean of the Mission Campus of City College of San Francisco, has facilitated access to educational opportunities and has developed vocational job training programs, which have provided a great assistance to many Hispanic Americans. Through her service in city government and community groups, Dr. del Portillo has had a positive and lasting effect on human rights, education, the Fire Department, the role of women in the Fire Department, national parks, and so much more. Mr. Speaker, Joel Garcia has also centered his career on helping others. Specifically, Mr. Garcia contributes to his community by securing access to health and human services to the needy. Joel serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, Inc., a non-profit, federal-qualified community health center that provides primary care health services in southern Alameda County. He plays an influential role in academia by publishing research on health law, policy, and administration. I would like to underscore the contributions of my friend, Pedro Gonzalez, who has devoted his life to the city of South San Francisco for many years. As a public servant, he has served as a council member and mayor. Through his career, he has worked for affordable housing, childcare assistance for low-income families, national parks, community service, recreation, and education among many other issues. As president and co-founder of Historical Old Town Homeowners and Renters Association, Pedro implemented the ``Siempre Adelante'' program, an informational program for the community on parenting and civic participation. In addition to those honored by KQED, I wish to further single out many other deserving leaders who have contributed so much to my community. These are the giants of government and community service who work so tirelessly around the Penninsula. Last year, my good friend, Jose Cisneros was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom as Treasurer for the City and County of San Francisco. I have known Jose for a long time, and as the City's banker and chief investment officer, the City of San Francisco is in very able hands. Jose Cisneros received his Bachelor of Science from Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and studied for his MBA at Boston University. Mr. Speaker, the County of San Mateo is lucky to have Ortensia Lopez. As a resident of San Mateo County since 1975 and as the Executive Director of the Concilio of San Mateo County, she has helped to improve public health, energy efficiency, employment, job training, race relations, conditions for the disadvantaged, banking, and commerce. Ms. Lopez was the first member of her family to graduate from college and has won multiple awards, including ``Woman Who Could Be President''. Since 1996, Daly City has benefited from the public service of Sal Torres, the city's first elected Latino official. Through his various offices in Daly City, including mayor, vice mayor and city council member, Mr. Torres has shown exemplary leadership in transforming the city into a family and children friendly place. He dedicated the Bayshore Community Center for the use of the Mid-Peninsula Boys and Girls Club as well as several parks. During his years of service Daly City ranked among the top 10 safest cities with populations exceeding 100,000. The efforts of Elizabeth Quiros as the President of the San Mateo County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce have helped countless Hispanic Americans in my district. Her organization works as an information resource and provides networking and expansion opportunities for all its members. The success of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in promoting Hispanic business, under Ms. Quiros's, influence manifested in the Chamber's recognition as the 2004 Small Hispanic Chamber of the Year. Ms. Quiros has worked tirelessly to identify the needs of the Hispanic Community and ensuring equity in the treatment of Hispanic Americans. Mr. Speaker, the problems that the Hispanic community faces with the Nation as a whole are daunting. According to the latest data and statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Latinos represent 14 percent of the population of the United States but account for 20 percent--over 164,000--of AIDS cases nationally. AIDS-related illnesses represent the fourth leading cause of death among Latinos between 25 and 44. In order to promote awareness and prevention, I support the 3rd Annual National Latino AIDS Awareness Day on October 15, 2005. We need to continue to work toward legislation to help Hispanic Americans. This month our Nation can take a long look back at the myriad of contributions that the Hispanic community has offered and continues to offer. Hispanic Heritage Month also helps us renew our focus on difficult issues that face this community: racial profiling, affordable housing, language barriers, and unfair immigration policy. Mr. Speaker, this vibrant part of our community offers an array of perspectives that are firmly woven into the fabric of America, and I am extremely proud to serve as a representative of a community that consists of so many great Americans. I encourage all Americans to participate in this month of celebration. I invite my colleagues to join me in recognizing the contributions that Hispanic Americans have made to our Nation.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 248, a resolution honoring the life and courageous work of my friend, Simon Wiesenthal, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague from California (Mr. Waxman) for introducing this resolution, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) for his support in bringing it to the floor so quickly, and I want to express a special thanks to my good friend from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) who has been an indefatigable fighter for all the causes that Simon Wiesenthal fought for and fighting against the monstrous hatred to which Simon Wiesenthal dedicated his life against. Mr. Speaker, when Simon Wiesenthal died on September 20, the world lost one of its great heroes of the last century. He was the conscience of the Holocaust who labored heroically for decades to make certain that history will not forget that nightmare, nor let its perpetrators escape justice. He did this, as he said, not just for the Holocaust victims like himself, but for his grandchildren, because if one generation's criminals go unpunished, their descendents will conclude that they too can literally get away with murder. Simon was a personal friend of mine who inspired my wife Annette who, like me, is also a Holocaust survivor, in her efforts on behalf of another giant of righteousness and decency, Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Nazi era. Wallenberg disappeared after the Soviet Army seized Hungary in 1945. Over 30 years later, it was Simon Wiesenthal who announced at a press conference in 1977 that Wallenberg was alive and imprisoned in Siberia. That announcement reenergized my wife Annette to intensify her search for Wallenberg and to obtain his release. Mr. Speaker, Simon Wiesenthal was a survivor who lived through numerous cruel, forced marches and imprisonment in many concentration camps. As all who experienced that unimaginable nightmare, he was deeply changed by the experience of the Holocaust. When American forces liberated this emaciated young man from the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, he weighed a little over 90 pounds. Rather than continue with his pre-war profession of architecture, Wiesenthal made it his life's work to pursue justice for victims who could not do this for themselves. Through his untiring efforts, some 1,100 Nazi war criminals were tracked down and brought to justice. Some of these represented the holocaust's most egregious and monstrous perpetrators. They include Karl Silberbauer, the Gestapo officer who arrested and sent to her death young Anne Frank of Amsterdam; Franz Stangl, the vicious and brutal commandant of the Sobibor and Treblinka death camps; and perhaps the most notorious of all, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS commander who was the person primarily responsible for formulating and carrying out Hitler's ``final solution'' for the Jewish people. It was Eichmann who arrived in Budapest in July of 1944 to eliminate the Jewish population of Hungary, and he succeeded in large measure. Wiesenthal's tireless work as a Nazi hunter was undertaken to demonstrate that those who commit crimes against humanity will face justice. He preached vigilance so that never again would the world witness the tragedy of the Holocaust and be complicit through inaction. Wiesenthal helped in the establishment of two important institutions. First, in 1947, he founded the Jewish Documentation Center in Linz, Austria, from which he conducted his own relentless search for perpetrators of Nazi crimes against humanity; and then in 1977, he gave inspiration to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Holocaust memorial foundation that established the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. That museum focuses its work on the prosecution of Nazi war criminals, the commemoration of the events of the Holocaust, teaching tolerance of all mankind and fighting against bigotry and anti-Semitism. Mr. Speaker, my wife Annette and I will miss our visits with Simon Wiesenthal, but he has left us with a proud legacy through his vigilance, through his bravery, through his determination and through his passionate commitment to justice. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation today and in honoring this titan of justice who reminded us that mass murder must never go unpunished. We remember a great man who taught us that solemn commemoration is what true remembrance means. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the author of this resolution.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) who has been an indefatigable fighter against discrimination of all types during his entire congressional career. (Mr. CARDIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues in the Congress of the United States to join me today in paying tribute to the late Miklos Vasarhelyi, a Hungarian of great courage and integrity who played a critically important role before and during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and again in the 1970s and 1980s, in the struggle to transform Hungary from a one-party communist state into a multi-party democracy. On October 14, Mr. Speaker, members of Miklos Vasarhelyi's family, friends, and admirers will gather in the city that was called Fiume, Hungary, when he was born there on October 9, 1917, and which today is Rijeka, Croatia. They will place a plaque honoring him on the wall of the very house where Mr. Vasarhelyi was born. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize his significant contributions to the cause of freedom and democracy. After university studies in Rome and Debrecen (Hungary), he became involved in anti-Fascist political activities. As a result, he spent two years in a forced labor battalion during World War II, and he joined the anti-Nazi resistance. From 1953 to 1955, Mr. Vasarhelyi served as press secretary to Hungary's reform-minded Prime Minister, Imre Nagy. In that capacity, he successfully fought for more freedom of the press from central control. During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he again assumed a key role in the Imre Nagy government that was established after the uprising broke out. He was one of three high-ranking officials who convinced Prime Minister Nagy to open a dialogue with the freedom fighters. When the Soviet Union crushed the 1956 Revolution, Mr. Vasarhelyi was one of the senior government officials who with Nagy accepted an offer of asylum at the Yugoslav embassy. They left the embassy under a guarantee of safety by the Hungarian government, but he and the others were immediately seized by Soviet troops and taken to Romania. In a secret trial he was given a five-year prison term, and he remained in prison until an amnesty in 1960. In the 1970s and 1980s, Miklos Vasarhelyi continued the struggle against repression. Combining courage and personal charm, and maintaining a unique sense of optimism about the future, he was a leader of the democratic opposition that brought immense changes in 1989. In the late 1980s, Mr. Vasarhelyi was the founder of the Hungarian Open Society Foundation. He was one of the leaders who laid the groundwork for a vibrant civic society in his country. He not only worked through the Open Society Foundation in Hungary, but he became one of the leading figures in the democratic opposition that began to emerge in the late 1980s. In 1990, a grateful nation elected him to serve in Hungary's free parliament as a reprsesentative of the Association of Free Democrats. I am pleased to add that Mr. Vasarhelyi was not only a genuine democrat but also a true friend of the United States and of Hungarian- American cooperation. Mr. Speaker, I welcome the commemorative event that is taking place on October 14 at the house in Rijeka/Fiume where Miklos Vasarhelyi was born. I invite my colleagues to join me in commending his family, friends, and colleagues to celebrate the memory of this quiet, persistent, and effective man who kept faith with his ideals under the most difficult of circumstances.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me today in paying tribute to Tibor (Ted) Rubin, who received the Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush at a ceremony in the White House just a few days ago for his heroic and extraordinarily selfless acts during the Korean War. His story is inspirational and his deeds are stirring and should be known by all Americans. Mr. Rubin was born between the First and Second World Wars in Paszto, Hungary, a small Jewish village of only 120 people in 1929. At age 13, he was shipped to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where he spent 14 months. When he was liberated by American troops, he was starving and on the brink of death. Although Tibor survived, both his parents and two of his sisters perished in the Holocaust. Mr. Speaker, Tibor Rubin immigrated to New York in 1948 where he worked first as a shoemaker and later as a butcher. When he attempted to enter the U.S. Army butcher's school in 1949, he was denied admission after failing the English test, but in 1950 he passed. By July of that year, he was assigned to the infantry and stationed on the front lines in Korea. Mr. Rubin volunteered for missions that no one else would undertake. On one occasion, he secured the retreat route for his company by single-handedly defending a hill for 24 hours against waves of North Korean soldiers. In October 1950 a massive Chinese attack was mounted across the border into North Korea. The offensive surprised Americans troops, including Tibor Rubin's unit. After most of his regiment had been wiped out and he was severely wounded, he was captured and spent the next 30 months in a prisoner of war camp. The Chinese offered him food and a chance to go back to Hungary throughout his ordeal, but he refused to leave his American brothers. Mr. Rubin would sneak out of the his prison every night and steal food from Chinese and North Korean supply depots and feed the rest of his fellow POWs with the food he found. His fellow prisoners felt that he single-handedly kept 35 men alive. He became an American citizen after returning from Korea in 1953. Tibor was found to be 100 percent disabled by his war-time injuries by the Veterans Administration. He tried to return to his profession as a butcher, but his injuries prevented that. Today, Mr. Rubin lives in Garden Grove, California, with his wife of 42 years, Yvonne, a Dutch Holocaust survivor, and they have two children--a son, Frank, an Air Force veteran, and a daughter, Rosalyn. Mr. Speaker, for his outstanding military service, Tibor Rubin was recommended four times for the Congressional Medal of Honor by his commanding officers and comrades, twice for the Distinguished Service Cross and twice for the Silver Star--but he did not receive any of these honors, though he did receive two Purple Hearts. Tibor's immediate superiors recommended him for the Medal of Honor, but before the paperwork could be processed these officers were killed, and a sergeant who might have sent the papers up refused to do so because Tibor was Jewish. ``Not on my watch,'' he reportedly said. Because of his remarkable bravery and courage in Korea, private bills were introduced in the Congress on a number of occasions to give him the honor he deserved. Finally, just a few days ago, the long- delayed but richly-deserved Medal of Honor was presented to Tibor Ruben by the President. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to the heroism of Ted Ruben, and extending to him our gratitude for his service to our country--service that was well above and beyond the call of duty.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my good friend and colleague, the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), for facilitating this body's consideration of the resolution. I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) for offering this very important resolution and for his tireless battle to promote human rights in Cuba. Mr. Speaker, the manipulative tyranny of Fidel Castro continues unabated. Two months ago, Havana's security apparatus arrested over 50 human rights activists and political dissidents in two separate roundups as these individuals peacefully exercised their fundamental rights of association and expression. Many of these brave men and women remain incarcerated in rat-infested cells because of their conviction to seek freedom and democracy in Cuba. They join the hundreds of other political prisoners who have been languishing behind bars for such so- called crimes as sharing books with neighbors, reporting the news outside of government-controlled media outlets and attempting to organize independent free labor unions in Communist Cuba. Other individuals who dare to practice their professions outside of state-sanctioned avenues feel the wrath of Castro's henchmen in other sordid forms. According to international human rights groups, political repression in Cuba is manifested through the use of police warnings and constant surveillance, short-term detentions, house arrests, travel restrictions, criminal prosecutions and politically motivated dismissals from jobs. We in this House have repeatedly and forcefully denounced this oppression, calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners, and we have advocated for political liberalization on the island. This year, the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva joined in the chorus of voices calling attention to the injustices which continue to be inflicted upon those who toil in Castro's island prison, or, should I say, prison island. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights can and should do more. The Human Rights Commission should call upon the Castro regime to release immediately all prisoners who are incarcerated in violation of their fundamental human rights. The Human Rights Commission should demand that the Cuban Government respect the freedom of association, expression and other international human rights norms. And the Human Rights Commission should press the Castro regime to hold free and fair elections and otherwise not suppress the ability of Cuban citizens to exercise their fundamental political rights. Although the commission is not scheduled to meet again until early next year, much of the preparatory work that is necessary to secure a strong resolution on Cuba should be occurring now. Cuban emissaries reportedly have colluded with their like-minded brethren from Venezuela, Burma, Turkmenistan, Syria and other countries with very questionable human rights records to block proposed reforms to the commission that would give it the credibility and the institutional capability that it sorely lacks. Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful that the community of real democracies will no longer allow those countries which flagrantly break the rules to sit in judgment of their own abhorrent practices. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution, and, therefore, send a signal to our friends in New York and Havana that we are with them in their struggle against tyranny and oppression. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, it was my great honor and pleasure to share the dais with President Pervez Musharraf, who is, quite literally, the ``Indispensable Man'' in Pakistan's politics today--and who promises to be one of the most significant and pivotal figures in Pakistan's history. In a remarkable demonstration of vision and daring--and at considerable personal and political risk--the Pakistani President addressed the American Jewish Congress and the Council for World Jewry at a dinner in New York City. On that occasion, Mr. Speaker, he emphasized the commonalities among Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, and stressed the importance of working cooperatively to defeat terrorism. He expressed his positive appraisal of Prime Minister Sharon's decision to withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, and urged cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian leaders with the hope that both sides will ``shun confrontation and pursue peace and reconciliation.'' Mr. Speaker, the Pakistani President took a very positive step in this direction earlier this month with his support for the unprecedented meeting between the Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers in Istanbul--an event that we all hope will usher in a new era of cooperation and friendship between these two countries that are of vital importance to the United States. In light of Pakistan's weight and influence in the Islamic world, we also hope and expect that it will be a step toward a process of mutual recognition between Israel and all the Muslim-majority nations of the world. By demonstrating to Israel that its own courageous peace initiatives are both appreciated and reciprocated, President Musharraf has made a most important contribution toward the Middle East peace, for which every person of good will prays. President Musharraf is a man of vision. When we met in Washington three years ago, I urged him to follow the example of the great modernizer Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern, secular Republic of Turkey, a nation with which President Musharraf is intimately familiar. He has, in fact, blazed a trail that I believe Ataturk himself would admire. At a time when the civilized world is engaged in a global war against Islamic terrorism, President Musharraf has emerged as the quintessential Muslim leader of moderation, decency, reason, and acceptance of pluralism. Also, Mr. Speaker, President Musharraf's pragmatic and constructive attitude toward resolving Pakistan's differences with India has brought with it the promise of finally bringing an end to more than half a century of animosity. He has transformed Pakistan into a tried-and-true ally in the war against terrorism, despite two al-Qaeda attempts against his life. He is a beacon to other Muslim states as the model of a moderate and enlightened Islamic leader. Mr. Speaker, in New York, I told President Musharraf that we in Congress, on both sides of the aisle, deeply appreciate his courage and his role in creating a new Pakistan and a deeper U.S.-Pakistan friendship. I also want my colleagues in the Congress to have the opportunity to read the excellent address the Pakistani President gave in New York at the American Jewish Congress and the Council for World Jewry. I ask that it be placed in the Record, Mr. Speaker, and I urge my colleagues to give it thoughtful attention. Address to the American Jewish Congress Honorable Mr. Jack Rosen, Excellencies, Distinguished guests. Let me start by expressing my personal and my nation's grief and condolences over the devastation, loss of lives and human suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina in the south eastern states especially New Orleans. I thank Mr. Jack Rosen for inviting this distinguished gathering under the auspices of the American Jewish Congress. This is a unique occasion. It signifies an endeavor for mutual understanding in a time of uncertainty and fear. The unfortunate events of recent history have created division and tension between the followers of the three great monotheistic faiths--Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Your invitation card described this event as a historic occasion. For a leader of Pakistan, it is indeed so, and I feel privileged to be speaking to so many members of what is probably the most distinguished and influential community in the United States. I also deeply appreciate that in arranging this event, the American Jewish Congress has invited members of other prominent organizations and associations representing the spectrum of American society. I always speak my mind candidly. And I always do so with total sincerity. This is what I will do this evening. There is no longer any time for ambivalence or leisurely diplomacy. The world has entered an era where a number of threats-- terrorism, political conflicts, proliferation, poverty--have assumed global and catastrophic dimensions. They have to be resolved urgently and with finality. They cannot be merely managed in the hope that they can be resolved later. We can no longer leave these wounds festering. They pose a great danger to the world at large and our future generations. Our world today has been transformed, by the revolutions in communications and information technology, into a global village. People move, interact and affect each other. The good or bad in one region transcend geopolitical boundaries and have a global impact. The homily: ``the common heritage of mankind'' is now a visible reality. We are jointly responsible for the well-being, progress and prosperity of our peoples--indeed of mankind at large. Each people, nation, and religion must live with each other, accommodate each other, and do no harm to each other. Today, truly, we are our ``brother's keeper''. This is a heavy responsibility--given that our world has great wealth, but also grave poverty; great achievements, but also grave injustice; unprecedented capacity for progress and prosperity, but also the awesome capability to destroy our planet. Ladies and Gentlemen, the major monotheistic religions of the world--Judaism, Christianity and Islam share a common heritage and converge on a multiplicity of universal values. Yet, today, our great religions--which should be a source of hope, tolerance and peace--are seen to be pitted against each other. How and why did this happen? Is it possible to reshape the future for the common benefit of humanity--for all of us? These are the questions I would like to address this evening. On this occasion, it is relevant to recall that Jews and Muslims have more similarities and few divergences in their faith and culture. The oneness of God (which Muslims call Tauheed), is common to both Islam and Judaism. The Muslim greeting, Salam O Alaikum (peace be upon you), is akin to the Jewish greeting, Shalom, which also means peace. When I watched the last scene in the famous movie ``Schindler's List'', it concludes with a quotation from the Talmud: ``Killing one innocent person is like the murder of humanity and saving one innocent person is like saving humanity.'' The identical words appear in the Holy Quran. According to the Holy Quran and our Holy Prophet (PBUH) Jews and Christians are the ``People of the Book'', belonging to the same spiritual tradition. Abraham, Moses and Jesus are among the most revered prophets of Islam. Moses is the prophet who is most frequently referred to in the Holy Quran. Our experiences and histories intertwine in many regions of the old world and most significantly in the Holy Land. The history of interaction between the Islamic and Jewish communities is rich and long. This includes the shining examples of Jewish communities coexisting in harmony within Islamic societies in Cordova, Baghdad, Istanbul and Bokhara, contributing to a rich mosaic of culture and traditions. Many Jewish historians have referred to the days of Muslim Spain as the ``golden period'', when Jewish communities flourished intellectually, politically and economically in an environment of religious tolerance and scholarly inspiration. The subsequent wrath of the Inquisition was suffered jointly by Muslims and Jews. Indeed, over the centuries, Jewish communities and Islamic societies from Central Asia to Spain, have not only lived together and shared prosperity, but also suffered together. The past six decades are, therefore, an aberration in the long history of Muslim-Jewish cooperation and coexistence. Many learned studies have been written about the reasons for the hostility and violence that has occurred. I do not wish to dwell on this. Each of us has his own understanding and perception. But, it is relevant to recall that the gulf between the Muslim and Jewish communities arose in what was the bloodiest century in human history, marked by world wars, genocide and mass deportations, in which millions perished. It was in this bloody century that the Jewish people suffered their greatest tragedy--the Holocaust--whose commemoration will be on the agenda of this year's session of the United Nations General Assembly. It was also in this brutal century that other peoples suffered their greatest tragedies-- Palestinians, Kashmiris, Bosnians, Rwandese. We must not forget; but we must forgive. Suffering often engenders anger; but this must be soon replaced by compassion. And, we have witnessed such compassion from the Jewish community. It was Jewish groups in the US who were in the forefront in opposing the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia. I am told that the largest contributor to the Bosnian cause was the Jewish- American businessman and philanthropist--George Soros. More recently, in the backlash against Muslims, including Pakistani immigrants, after 9/11, they received legal and other assistance from several Jewish groups, I wish to acknowledge and appreciate this. These noble examples are a source of hope. Hope that we can convert this century into one which will see universal peace, progress and prosperity. This aspiration is achievable but only if we pursue reconciliation and cooperation. There are a host of challenges we all face in common-- political, social and environmental. One of the most pervasive threats we confront is international terrorism. The world today is in the grip of terror. Explosives, car bombs, suicide bombers have all added a new destructive dimension to terrorism. Terrorism threatens to destabilize all modern societies. It is anti-progress. It must be rejected. It cannot be condoned for any reason or cause. The people of Pakistan have suffered from terrorism. We continue to suffer because of extremism in our region. We are making our contribution to the fight against terrorism. Our efforts have won international appreciation. Pakistan is participating in international action against international terrorism through police and military action, intelligence sharing and measures to curb terrorist financing. But, I believe, we cannot limit ourselves to fire fighting and local actions against individuals and groups. We should also look for the deeper causes of this malaise and for the motivations that drive individuals to extreme irrational behavior to commit acts of terrorism. The question that arises is: what pushes a human being to such extremes of desperation that he takes his own life to kill others? I have no doubt whatsoever that any attempt to shy away or ignore the root causes of terrorism is shutting ones eyes to reality and is a sure recipe for failure. Military action or use of force against the terrorists today is not, in itself, the ultimate solution to the malaise. It merely buys us time to implement profound policies to eliminate the phenomenon. A parallel danger lies in fallacious theories and polemical campaigns motivated by prejudice. The postulated clash between civilizations, specifically between Islam and the West, has no basis in history. Civilizations have grown and prospered throughout history, influencing, interacting with and enriching each other. Regrettably, the theory has inspired attempts to turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are tendencies to associate Islam with terrorism and even suggestions that this great religion of tolerance, compassion and peace, somehow, denies espousal of these universal values. To my mind this is a hate campaign. In today's dynamic world, we need, more than ever before, to foster understanding and harmony among societies. Should we tolerate such campaigns in our midst when we demand their rejection elsewhere? Therefore, I strongly support the endeavor to promote interfaith and inter-civilization dialogue and harmony. However, it is a fact that, today, most of those involved in terrorist acts, as well most of those who suffer the consequences of these acts, are Muslims. Obviously, there is a deep disturbance and malaise within Islamic societies, which has become specially acute in recent years. The reasons are plain to see. Since the end of the Cold War, almost every major festering problem and conflict affects and torments the Islamic world. Palestine has been at the heart of the troubles in the Middle East. In our region, Kashmir has been the source of tension and conflict. The unfortunate history of Afghanistan spawned extremism and terrorism. Turmoil in Iraq causes great concern in the Islamic world and the rest of the international community. These and other political issues have given rise to a deep sense of anger, desperation and humiliation in the Arab and Muslim populations. It is this political and social environment which breeds terrorism and extremism. At the same time, I do not shy away from pointing to the failure within the Islamic societies to embrace reform, progress and modernity. The Muslim world emerged from decades of colonization, politically, economically and socially stunted. Political independence did not always lead to good governance. Many of us have remained trapped in a time warp, still struggling to reconstruct our political, social and economic systems to respond to the challenges of our times. In Islamic societies, there is a divide between the outlook of the protagonists of modernity and the custodians of orthodoxy. The resultant economic deprivation and social backwardness are also the source of extremism. And extremism creates a fertile recruiting ground for terrorism. Ladies and Gentlemen, if we are to succeed against terrorism and end extremism, we must, therefore address the root causes. The leaders of today must change the course of events instead of merely reacting to a series of catastrophic events--such as 9/11 and 7/7. First of all, I feel we need to clearly understand that terrorism and extremism are two different phenomena. Each requires a different strategy. Lumping terrorism and extremism together, or behaving as if they are synonymous, is a fallacy. Terrorism has to be met head on with all the force required to suppress and eradicate it. In the case of extremism, the battle has to be won in the hearts and minds of people. It cannot be achieved through the use of force. We must adopt separate short term and long-term strategies to address terrorism and extremism. Such immediate and long-term strategies have to be implemented at three tiers: the global level, the Muslim world level and the national level in the concerned countries. In the immediate context, terrorism, as I said, has to be confronted with force all over the world. Intimate cooperation and coordination of intelligence and squeezing the underworld funding of terrorists and extremists organizations will facilitate counter terrorism operations to a large degree. At the same time, to ensure success, it is essential, together with the use of force, to promote the resolution of the political disputes, which are exploited by terrorists to justify their criminal actions. Among these political disputes, may I be allowed to say clearly that the Palestinian and Kashmir disputes are ripe for resolution. One can draw satisfaction from the fact that visible signs of movement are appearing towards an end to both these disputes. We ought to put our collective weight behind a push for their final solution. Secondly, for the long term, the socio economic revival of the Muslim world, focusing particularly on education and poverty alleviation, will also erode the core of terrorism and extremism. I have strongly advocated reform, social and economic progress and rejection of extremism in Islamic societies. In parallel, I have emphasized that the international community, particularly the West, must facilitate the resolution of outstanding problems, in particular the problem of Palestine. I have described this two-pronged approach as Enlightened Moderation. Regardless of the nomenclature, this dual approach responds to the realities of our historical and political circumstances, which cannot be wished away. The strategy of Enlightened Moderation, at the global and Muslim world level, will also help to end extremism. Domestically, religious bigotry, hate campaigns and confrontational tendencies have to be curbed. This has to be done through bold, determined, well thought out and indigenously applicable strategies. The misuse of religion to spread militancy, hatred and violence has to be suppressed. An international discourse as well as national debate in affected societies, on religious harmony must be initiated. In the Muslim world, I feel we need to initiate a serious discourse to promote an understanding of the true Islam. We must then project its real essence to the world. I would like to say with pride that today Pakistan is perhaps the only country which is actively confronting and addressing the issue of terrorism and extremism through well- considered and comprehensive separate strategies. The results are already visible on the ground. We are determined to persist with and sustain this effort until we gain complete ascendancy over the terrorist and extremist segments with our national fabric. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would be remiss if, while addressing the American Jewish Congress, I did not express my views on the Israeli-Palestinian problem. I do not have an iota of doubt that this lies at the heart of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond. In view of its global impact, it is incumbent on the international community--especially the West and the US--to ensure a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Both parties involved--the Israelis and the Palestinians-- must shun confrontation and pursue peace and reconciliation. Israel rightly desired security. This will remain incomplete until the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state is assured. Israel must come to terms with geopolitical realities and allow justice to prevail for the Palestinians. The Palestinians' desire for freedom and nationhood is as intense as that of any other people. They want their own independent state. We see hope in recent events. We have welcomed the Israeli decision to pull out of Gaza. The peace process, as set out in the ``Road Map'', must be pursued as agreed. We hope Israel will also soon withdraw from the West Bank. This will set the stage for the establishment of the independent state in Palestine. By respecting Palestinian aspirations, Israel will attain its legitimate desire for assured security. I am convinced that peace in Palestine that does justice to both the Israelis and the Palestinians will bring to a close the sad chapter in the history of the Middle East. It will revive the historical ties between Islam and Judaism. It will extinguish the anger and frustration that motivates resort to violence and extremism. What better signal for peace could there be than the opening of embassies in Israel by Islamic countries like Pakistan? There will remain the difficult ``final status'' issues to be resolved. None is more sensitive than the fate of the Holy City of Jerusalem (which we call Al-Quds al-Sharif). It is a city that is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. It was the first Qibla of Islam. The first edict of Caliph Omar when he entered Jerusalem, over fourteen centuries ago, was to annul the five hundred years of exile of the Jewish people. He invited them to return and build their homes in the Holy City. For durable peace and harmony between Israelis and Palestinians--indeed between Israel and the Muslim world--it is such a gesture of reconciliation and realism that is required of Israel. Any final settlement should respect the international character of Jerusalem as well as international law and the resolutions of the Security Council. I have always believed that the courage required to compromise and reconcile is far greater than that required to confront. I appeal to Israel to show that courage. I appeal to the American Jewish Congress, and the entire Jewish Community, to use their considerable influence to put an end to the Palestinian dispute once and for all and to usher in a period of peace and tranquility in the Middle East and perhaps the whole world. Failure is no longer an option. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me conclude with a word about the prospects of Pakistan's relations with Israel. Pakistan has no direct conflict or dispute with Israel. We pose no threat to Israel's security. We trust that Israel poses no threat to Pakistan's national security. But, our people have a deep sense of sympathy for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspirations for statehood. In response to the bold step taken by Prime Minister Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza, Pakistan decided to initiate an official contact with Israel. Our Foreign Ministers met in Istanbul through the good offices of our Turkish friends. As the peace process progresses towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, we will take further steps towards normalization and cooperation, looking to full diplomatic relations. Ladies and Gentlemen, we can remain mired in old prejudices and keep the world hostage to the politics of perennially defining and redefining of enemy, or we can move forward with courage and reach out to work for the rebirth of history and a new future of peace, harmony, mutual respect, dignity and shared prosperity. We can lose this opportunity to narrow vision and a failure to see humanity in each other. The responsibility to make the right choice is in our hands.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, it was my great honor and pleasure to join my dear friend, Jack Rosen, the Chairman of the American Jewish Congress and the Council for World Jewry at a dinner in New York City honoring President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. The President gave an outstanding speech reflecting his standing as the quintessential Muslim leader who has fostered moderation, reason, and pluralism. Mr. Speaker, this remarkable event would not have taken place without the extraordinary leadership of Jack Rosen. He met President Musharraf some time ago when he was conducting business in Pakistan. At that meeting the seeds were planted that eventually blossomed into the event in New York a few days ago. This event honoring the Pakistani President is only the latest example of Jack Rosen's visionary leadership and indefatigable commitment to public service. In the short time that he has served as Chairman of the American Jewish Congress, he has made an important difference in broadening and deepening the work of this important Jewish organization. Mr. Speaker, at the event in New York last week, Jack introduced President Musharraf to the audience at the dinner in his honor. Jack's comments were particularly insightful on U.S.-Pakistani relations and the worldwide struggle against terrorism. My colleagues in the Congress should have the opportunity to read the excellent remarks he made. I ask that his address be placed in the Record, Mr. Speaker, and I urge my colleagues to give it thoughtful attention. Introduction of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan Mr. Jack Rosen, Chairman American Jewish Congress/Council for World Jewry This is an unprecedented evening, and we are delighted to welcome not only our keynote speaker, but more than 60 Pakistani-American leaders who have joined us. We demonstrate tonight, by example, something that happens every day in hundreds of communities across the United States--Muslims, Jews and Christians sharing a meal, talking about our desires and dreams and even our differences. President Pervez Musharraf's presence here tonight is the culmination of two years of preparation. In the summer of 2003, President Musharraf surprised many people in his own country and across the Muslim world when he offered a new set of ideas--first in Washington, then at the United Nations, at the Islamic Summit in Malaysia, and finally in Pakistan. He told his most important audience, his own community, that the extremist path to which some Muslims had turned to would bring nothing but misery and degradation. He said of the scourge of terror: ``The unfortunate reality is that both the perpetrators of these crimes and most of the people who suffer from them are Muslims.'' Then he offered a vision of an alternative, which he called ``Enlightened Moderation.'' He proposed a new Islamic society based on pluralism, openness, and tolerance, in order to reach what he called ``socioeconomic uplift--to drag ourselves out of the pit we find ourselves in, to raise ourselves up by individual achievement and collective socio-economic emancipation.'' Just a few months prior to giving that speech, President Musharraf broke new ground when he suggested that Pakistan might need to rethink its refusal to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, although official diplomatic ties could come only after an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. These remarks came as the Moslem world was being rent by extremist pressures, amidst cascading violence in the Middle East and dangerously mounting anti-Semitism. Difficult to say at any time, President Musharraf's words were all the more courageous coming at the moment they did. The extremists in his own country and beyond were quick to recognize the threat to them expressed in his message of hope. Within months, terrorists in Pakistan made two major attempts on his life, and they very nearly succeeded. We must ask ourselves: What if the terrorists had succeeded? What if the vitally important country of Pakistan, with its huge Muslim population, its nuclear arms, its many extremist factions and its critical location in the region known as the arc of crisis, had tumbled into chaos, or gone the way of Iran? When you think about this, you can see why the terrorists believed it so important to silence him. President Pervez Musharraf's decision to be with us tonight is an act of individual courage, leadership and vision. Our process that brings him here also began two years ago, resulting from informal talks we held with Pakistani officials and members of the Pakistani-American community. This led to an invitation to visit Pakistan and meet with President Musharraf. In May, I made a quiet trip to Islamabad with the Vice Chairman of our Council on World Jewry, Mr. Phil Baum, and with our very fine Director, David Twersky. Because we were aware of politically sensitive issues involved, we first consulted with senior officials in Washington and Jerusalem. Several weeks ago, I spoke with President Bush about this initiative in Crawford. President Bush said he saw this as an important opportunity and understood the significance of this step by President Musharraf. President Bush was enthusiastic about the opportunity. Since its inception, the American Jewish Congress-Council for World Jewry, working with Jewish communities around the world, has sought to build bridges to the Muslim world by pursuing contacts with authoritative, moderate Muslim political and religious figures in America and around the world. We approach this mission with sobriety and a hard headedness about the Jewish cause, with a realism about current conflicts and impending threats. But we are also driven by the compelling and urgent necessity to reach out and engage leading individuals in the Muslim world who, by meeting us at least halfway, can accelerate the process by which the Muslim world finds its way into a healthy and productive relationship with contemporary life. Our dialogue with Muslims starts with an understanding that true moderation begins with tolerance among peoples. Christians, Muslims, and Jews come from a shared common heritage, and we are three branches of one tradition and one set of core values. We recognize the vital role that mass media and education-- in both public school systems as well as madrasas--plays in teaching and advocating values of moderation, tolerance and understanding. We need to ensure that tolerance is more accurately reflected in Muslim media and education systems, including in Pakistan. This must be the last generation educated to be hateful of Jews. Demonization of the Jewish people is a scourge that offends people of all racial and religious backgrounds. It is troubling that anti-Semitism has reemerged in some quarters in Europe just 60 years after the Holocaust. This is sparked by extremism. We all have an obligation to eradicate anti- Semitism from all our societies. This must be the last generation educated to be hateful of Israel. We reject the Arab boycott against Israel and we support every effort of diplomacy and dialogue in the quest for peace and security. This must be the last generation educated to believe it is acceptable to denigrate people of other cultures and religions. For our part, Jews must work to prevent Islam from being attacked with impunity. Unfortunately, many Muslims believe attacks against Islam are fomented by us. There exists a conspiracy-theory mindset among many Muslims that seeks to blame the Jews for the ills of the Muslim world. Jewish leaders must be more active and visible to prevent attacks against Islam, and Muslims leaders, in turn, must help dispel unfounded conspiracy theories. And, finally, this must be the last generation educated to believe that terrorism is a legitimate means to achieve political ends. Acts of terror have no place in civilized societies and terrorists can never be honored as freedom fighters or martyrs. President Musharraf, you are an important voice in the Muslim world. You can carry this message to places and people that I, that we, cannot. President Musharraf's appearance with us tonight is a symbolic act of his determination to take the struggle forward. But it is not an isolated one. Following positive reaction in Pakistan to the announcement of this meeting, he initiated other important steps toward Israel. Two weeks ago, on September 1, his Foreign Minister, Khurshid Kasuri, met openly with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. Pakistan is taking a stand, supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people to have a state of their own, but at the same time, affirming such a state will exist alongside of-- and not seek to replace--the Jewish state of Israel. It has said it will now ``engage'' Israel, a step forward from Pakistan's previous policy. President Musharraf recently praised Prime Minister Sharon as ``courageous'' for unilaterally disengaging from Gaza. For its part, Israel has agreed to loosen trade restrictions for imports of Pakistani products. On Wednesday, President Musharraf shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon--something that would have been impossible even a year ago. We are proud to be part of this historic drama. But tonight represents only a beginning of what we hope is a long process of dialogue and engagement. Organizations like ours have a continuing role to play, and we invite all of you here tonight to join with us. We would like to explore with President Musharraf opportunities to bring together Pakistani, American and Israeli citizens in a dialogue about our shared futures through a program of on-going exchanges and visits. The more our people interact with each other, the easier it will be for government leaders to act. Let me share with you some personal information about our special guest. President Musharraf was born in Delhi in 1943. He spent his early years in Turkey, where his father served in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. Beginning his military career in 1964, he rose through the ranks as a highly decorated soldier and officer, becoming head of the Armed Forces in 1998. The following year he assumed his country's political leadership. He is married and has a son and a daughter. He is a critical ally and partner of the United States in fighting terrorism. Under his leadership, Pakistan's economy is growing, it is reducing friction with its Indian neighbor, and his country is increasing its presence on the international stage. I must tell you many people expressed doubt that tonight would happen. The gap is too wide; the differences are too stark, they said. I am reminded of a famous passage from literature that describes the wide chasm which separates western and eastern cultures: ``Oh East is East and West is West and ne'er the twain shall meet.'' So it stands, engraved in conventional wisdom, as if decreed by heaven. But its author, Rudyard Kipling, who wrote as an Englishman in the Indian subcontinent--the land that includes modern day Pakistan--did not accept this insight as destiny. Instead, his poem continues: ``But there is neither East nor West, Border nor breed nor birth, When two strong men stand face to face Tho' they come from the ends of the earth.'' These elegant words remind us that leadership and character are indispensable to the progress of Man. Mr. President, we thank you for being here with us tonight, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on how the cause of Enlightened Moderation will be carried forward. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my very great honor to introduce to you the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Honorable Pervez Musharraf.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Albert Teglia on his recent receipt of the Jefferson Award and to thank him for his many contributions to his community. The Jefferson Award is given to individuals for their extraordinary work in their community. Mr. Teglia, who is known simply as ``Al'' to his friends, received this prestigious recognition for his work with, the Adopt-a-Family program and as director of the San Mateo County Children's Fund. I congratulate him on receiving this award, and I am proud that he resides in my Congressional district. Al's work with the Adopt-a-Family program, an organization that he founded, arose after he recognized that many of the families receiving donations during the holiday had needs that lasted all year. As a result, Al suggested that volunteer families sponsor a needy family for an entire year by providing food as well as other needs including, clothing, school supplies, toys, and other necessary items. Because Al believes that directly connecting volunteers and families helps guide assistance to where it is needed most, volunteer families personally drop off the items of assistance, which creates a personal relationship between donor and recipient. When Mr. Teglia became the director of San Mateo County's Children's Fund in 2000, he brought Adopt-a-Family under its umbrella. Since then, Al has developed a dozen programs that provide needy families with clothing, computers, school supplies, and furniture. Additionally, these programs make available vocational job training, jobs for youth, dental and orthodontic care, and education funds. Al is able to run this important program because of the generous donations and selfless volunteer efforts of many on the Peninsula. Mr. Speaker, much insight about this extraordinary person can be gleaned by his answer to the question ``Who are your heroes?'' He lists five historical figures: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Perry Como. Like his own personal heroes, Al Teglia has been a hero to many. His program reaches beyond just the immediate results because his programs perpetually help the needy. Those who have received assistance from Adopt-a-Family and the Children's Fund, have commented that they plan to give back to the community just as the community gave to them. Not only has Mr. Teglia's work fed and clothed many in need, but also it has inspired people to give to and uplift those who surround them in their communities. Since its beginning in 1997, the Adopt-a-Family program has helped more than 200 families. In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Mr. Teglia reminds all Americans that they can also be heroes and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina as well as the poor in their own backyard. Mr. Teglia remarked, ``We need to take care of our home if we are going to set an example for the world''. Al Teglia has diligently served the Daly City community for over 30 years as mayor, councilman, and trustee in the Jefferson Union High School District. He also helped to get BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Daly City when he served on the Board of Directors of Samtrans. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in thanking Al for his contributions to the community. His friends and colleagues have praised him for his selfless acts of service, and I hope the acknowledgement of this award will inspire others to devote more of their time to helping those in need.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am joined today by my colleagues, Christopher Shays of Connecticut, Mr. Don Young of Alaska, Mr. James Oberstar of Minnesota, and Mr. Barney Frank of Massachusetts to urge our colleagues to join with me in introducing H.R. 3858, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act of 2005. This common sense legislation would simply require state and local preparedness groups to include plans for evacuating pet and service animals in the event of a major disaster. The destructive force of Hurricane Katrina exposed many flaws in our nation's emergency preparedness programs, and any disaster plan's top priority must be to save citizens from the affected areas. One easily correctible issue that has come to light, however, is the fact that many of our cities' plans do not incorporate a protocol for rescuing pet owners. Without a corrected protocol, pet owners are unnecessarily forced to choose between their own safety and the safety of their pets. Mr. Speaker, as you may know, in order for a state to qualify for FEMA funding, state and local emergency preparedness authorities are required to submit a plan on how they will deal with a disaster. This legislation does not transfer any funds from planners or rescuers, but rather requires states to include how they plan to accommodate their incumbent pet population as well as people with disabilities that are aided by service animals. FEMA will require the jurisdictions to submit their emergency preparedness plans in order to be eligible for FEMA funding assistance in the event of a disaster. In hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, the lack of planning added to the burden and stress of both rescuers and residents. In a city of 500,000 as many as 69 percent of the people are pet owners and, by some estimates, there are as many as 600,000 pets and animals affected by the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Private rescue organizations estimate they have saved about 5,000 animals so far and have reunited only 600 animals with their owners. Estimates indicate there are an equal percentage of pet owners nationwide. Given these statistics, we hope you agree an emergency plan that incorporates pets is warranted. Mr. Speaker, the faces of the men and women stranded in flooded New Orleans will be forever etched in my mind. The images of little children with nothing in the world other than the shirts on their backs still disturb me at night. But I cannot help but wonder how many more people could have been spared the wrath of Hurricane Katrina if only they could have taken the family pet.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, today the world lost Simon Wiesenthal, the conscience of the Holocaust, who labored heroically for decades to make certain that history will not forget that nightmare nor let its perpetrators escape justice. He did it, as he said, not just for Holocaust victims like himself, but for his grandchildren, for if one generation's criminals go unpunished, their descendents will conclude that they too can get away with murder. Simon Wiesenthal was also a personal friend. He inspired my wife, Annette, in her efforts to gain recognition for another giant of righteousness, Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Nazi era. Annette and I will miss our visits with Simon Wiesenthal, but he has left us a proud legacy through his vigilance, bravery, and commitment to justice.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to the life of a truly extraordinary woman, Eda Kaminski, who passed away on September 6, 2005. We celebrate her remarkable life for the perseverance, tenacity and grit that helped her survive four German concentration camps and the resilience and resourcefulness that allowed her to prosper when she immigrated to America. Eda was born in the mountain village of Zawoja, Poland on July 22, 1916. She was married in 1939 to Salek Kunstler in Krakow two days before the Germans invaded Poland and began the Second World War. Their daughter, Anita was born in 1942 and fortunately was smuggled out before the Krakow ghetto was destroyed. Eda and her husband were sent to Plaszow. The Germans separated Eda from Salek and later murdered him. Eda struggled and survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, where many of those too sick to work were sent. The camp was liberated by British troops in April 1945. After the war Mrs. Kaminski found Anita hidden by a Catholic family in Krakow. Even though she had a sister who lived outside of London, most of Eda's family was killed in the Holocaust. Without resources or help, Eda and Anita moved to a Displaced Persons camp in Selb, Germany. It was there that she met her husband Reuven Kaminski and finally in 1949, they immigrated to New York to begin a new life. Their son, Harvey Kaminski became a successful financier in the New York area. Her daughter, Anita K. Epstein, came to Washington and pursued a successful career in government relations. Mr. Speaker, her truly incredible and inspiring story was chronicled in the Washington Post on September 20, 2003. I ask that the text of the article be included in the Congressional Record. Once again, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring her extraordinary life. In the Holocaust, Hide-and-Seek Was No Game (By Reilly Capps) Under glass in the new exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Museum is a letter. It was written in 1943 by Eda Kunstler, a prisoner in Plaszow, Poland, the same forced-labor camp where Schindler's list saved a thousand lives. Eda was hoping to save just one life, her baby daughter's, when she wrote these words to a stranger: ``Dear madam, ``I beg you, you are a mother as well, save my child. God will reward you and I will pay you as well. Remember that the child has wealthy parents, and that if we survive you will have everything we promised. . . . Give her food and keep her clean. That is all that a child needs. My child is bathed every day at 8:30, is fed and then placed on her side and she will sleep until 5 or 6 AM. She is fed every three hours, a roll dipped in water, or a roll with butter and sugar, a lot of sugar. . . .'' She prayed her daughter, Anita, would survive. The little girl was born into the Krakow ghetto in late 1942, and so was already a miracle, a little bundle of life amid the canyons of death. Maybe there would be another miracle, Eda thought, and Anita would survive the ghetto's liquidation. Maybe her husband had been right. He was a rational man, the wealthy co-owner of a leather factory, and he told her that babies weren't useful to the Nazis, that the baby would be killed instantly, that the baby's only chance was in hiding. He told her all these things as he pried the little girl from her arms. ``I didn't want to give it,'' Eda says now, ``but he took the baby.'' He slipped the baby in a canvas sack, got in a taxi and headed for the gentile side of town, where a Catholic woman named Zofji Zendler waited. With a fake birth certificate, Zendler changed Anita's name to Anya and passed her off as her own. She even took her to church. Which was how it came to pass one Sunday in Krakow that a 3-month-old Jewish girl was baptized Catholic and therefore saved. According to the museum, more than a million children were killed during the Holocaust, but tens of thousands were hidden during the war and thousands of those survived. Little Anita is now 60 years old. She's married, has two children of her own, and she cries when she looks at the letter, which is part of ``Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust,'' scheduled to open to the public today. It's written carefully, in Polish. There are no water marks on it, even though her mother was crying as she wrote it. ``Each one of us that survived has a story,'' says Anita Epstein, a lobbyist in Washington. ``It is very powerful. It's very strong for me. Too much. I have to do it in pieces.'' The exhibit is almost entirely little pieces, small things that played a small part in some incredible stories. There's a sweater worn by an 8-year-old girl as she cowered in the sewers for more than a year. A wardrobe in which a small boy hid from inspectors. Words from a diary written by an adolescent girl as she hid in an attic in Amsterdam. ``In so many ways, the stories of children's experiences are powerful for everyone--for parents, for children, for the general visitor,'' says museum curator Steven Luckert. ``It deals with so many different emotions: separation, fear, play, education, tough choices.'' Flora Singer was 10 years old when the German tanks rolled into Belgium. Her cousin Nounou was just a baby. Singer was hidden in a secret apartment and in a convent by the legendary Father Bruno, who saved hundreds of children. But not Nounou. ``My mother begged my aunt to let Nounou be hidden, because Father Bruno was willing to hide him also,'' says Singer. She says her mother said to her aunt: ``You can go, but at least let Nounou be hidden.'' My mother could not convince her to go to another place, or let Nounou go with Father Bruno. ``The next time my mother came to the apartment with food, maybe five, six days later, the Gestapo had a seal on the door, you know: `Property of the Third Reich.' My mother ran in and grabbed the photos of the family.'' One of those photos is displayed in the new exhibit. It's Singer and Nounou, her hands on his arms. They're all smiles. Singer lives in Montgomery County and volunteers at the museum, but life has never been as simple as it was the day that picture was taken. ``I am here, and [Nounou] is not, and I still can't believe it, even to this day. I say, `How come I escaped?' It's an enormous feeling of responsibility.'' For Eda Kunstler, it was an enormous feeling of guilt. She felt guilty in Plaszow, and in Auschwitz, and she thought of her daughter every single day in both places. And then she got to Bergen-Belsen, and she was too tired to think of anything at all. Eda survived Bergen-Belsen, survived hunger, survived typhus, even as every member of her family, including her husband, perished. She lives in Queens now, 86 and all alone, but she remembers returning to Poland to look for her only living relative, her daughter. She found her on a stoop in Katowice, eating a roll and frankfurter. There were 20 kids hanging around, but Eda could tell right away which girl was hers. ``I am your mother,'' she told her daughter. ``No, you are not my mother,'' Anita said. ``My mother is inside.'' Eda cried, because she knew the letter had worked. ``Dear Madam, my husband and I are convinced and believe that you will save our wonderful child . . . be her mother and give her love, because I her mother cannot give her anything.''