Title:  "Sen Lieberman Asks More Pressure for Joining MTCR." Senator Joseph Lieberman says more pressure should be brought to bear on all nations to join the Missile Technology Control Regime to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles, and that the US cannot simply stand by while nations like China and North Korea keep shipping dangerous weapons to nations like Iran and Syria. (920313)

Source:   CONGRESSIONAL RECORD (PERIODICAL), Mar 11
Date:  19920313

Text:
*EPF506 03/13/92 *

SEN. LIEBERMAN ASKS MORE PRESSURE FOR JOINING MTCR (Text: Sen. Lieberman in Congressional Record) (500) Washington -- Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat of Connecticut) says "More pressure must be brought to bear on all nations to join the missile technology control regime, the MTCR." Lieberman says "We have to work to strengthen that regime to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles around the globe."

In remarks on the floor of the Senate, Lieberman said, "We cannot sit by and simply abide while nations like China and North Korea keep shipping these dangerous weapons to nations like Iran and Syria.

"We must also enforce American laws that penalize foreign companies that export missile components or send technicians to nations developing those missiles," he said.

Following is the text, as it appeared in the March 11 Congressional Record: (begin text) Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, after several days of veiled and confusing threats from the administration against those North Korean ships steaming toward Iran with Scuds on board, the ships have in fact safely arrived in the Iranian port.

Clearly, we have lost the battle of the bluff, and we stand embarrassed in the glare of global attention. I wish the administration had stated its position on this matter more clearly and consistently and implemented that policy successfully. For if we cannot stop those ships from delivering their cargo, then we certainly should have said so instead of falling back on the threats that ultimately proved empty and embarrassing.

But as troubling as this episode in the last few days has been, I think there is a larger point here, and we ought to magnify the significance of the incident beyond proportion. The larger point is that Iran and Syria, like Iraq, already have Scuds. Those are dangerous ballistic missiles that can be equipped with warheads containing weapons of mass destruction. They are a crude and destabilizing weapon of war that detracts from the prospects for peace and security in the Middle East, Persian Gulf, and the world.

In fact, it is certainly a reality of the post-cold war world that the greatest threat to world and American security is in the spread of primitive weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles that have the capacity to deliver them on foreign nations.

We cannot sit by and simply abide while nations like China and North Korea keep shipping these dangerous weapons to nations like Iran and Syria.

More pressure must be brought to bear on all nations to join the missile technology control regime, the MTCR. I think we have to work to strengthen that regime to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles around the globe.

We must also enforce American laws that penalize foreign companies that export missile components or send technicians to nations developing those missiles.

We have to do all we can here on the domestic front to ensure that American technology is not exported in a fashion that aids those nations developing their own ballistic missile capacities.

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