Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 103 Part 2.djvu/601

 PUBLIC LAW 101-189—NOV. 29, 1989 103 STAT. 1611 Colonel William R. Higgins, a United States Marine assigned for service with the United Nations in the U.N. Truce Super- vision Organization (UNTSO), who was kidnapped in southern Lebanon on February 17, 1988. (2) That organization claimed to have executed Lieutenant Abdul Karim Colonel Higgins in response to the capture on July 28, 1989, by O*^^*^- Israeli commandos of a radical Muslim Shiite leader. Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid, believed to be associated with that organization. (3) That organization released to certain news agencies a videotape showing Lieutenant Colonel Higgins killed by hang- ing, though many forensic experts believe the videotape in- dicates that the person shown did not die from hanging. (4) The kidnapping of Lieutenant Colonel Higgins, who was engaged only in carrying out the legitimate United Nations peacekeeping activities to which he had been assigned, was wholly unjustified. (5) It is absolutely clear that the kidnapping and the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Higgins were outrageous acts of terrorism that deserve the condemnation of all civilized people. (6) There is strong evidence that the Government of Iran has supported the organization responsible for Lieutenant Colonel Higgins' kidnapping and murder, as well as other terrorist and extremist forces inside Lebanon and throughout the Middle East. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— It is the sense of Congress that— (1) Congress is outraged by the kidnapping and murder of Lieutenant Colonel Higgins and condemns those actions as barbaric, cowardly, and utterly incompatible with the stendards of conduct upheld by civilized people; (2) the President should use all available resources of the United States Government, including diplomatic and intel- ligence channels, to determine the identity of those persons responsible for the kidnapping and murder and the details ' regarding those terrorist acts; (3) the President should determine whether it would be pos- sible to identify and bring to jvistice, or to retaliate against, those persons responsible for the kidnapping and murder in a manner consistent with United States and intemational legal requirements that would reduce the risk to Americans from terrorism; (4) the President should take strong and decisive action, ^ possibly including the use of militery force, to prevent or re- spond to acts of international terrorism. Such actions should be taken in concert with other nations where practicable, but the President should be prepared to act unilaterally, if necessary; (5) the United States should make clear to the new leadership in Iran (A) that the United States will not tolerate a continu- ation of past policies of support of groups which undertake terrorist actions against American citizens or direct assaults on American vital interests in the Middle East or elsewhere, and (B) that if such support should continue, the United States will hold the authorities in Iran accounteble for that support and act accordingly; (6) the Secretary General of the United Nations should take all necessary steps to help ensure that the body of Lieutenant Colonel Higgins is returned to his country and family and that

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