HE HAS SPOKEN OUT FORCEFULLY AND CLEARLY AND CORRECTLY FOR SO
           MANY MONTHS ABOUT OUR OBLIGATION TO SEE THAT THE PEOPLE OF EAST
           TIMOR HAVE A CHANCE TO CHART THEIR OWN COURSE, TO REACH THEIR
           OWN DESTINY, TO RULE THEMSELVES. AND I THANK HIM FOR HIS
           EFFORTS EFFORTS. TODAY, THIS AMENDMENT IS BEING WITHDRAWN, BUT
           THIS WITHDRAWAL SHOULD NOT BE A SIGNAL THAT WE ARE TURNING AWAY
           FROM EAST TIMOR. INDEED, IT IS ONCE AGAIN AN OPPORTUNITY TO

           SPEAK OUT AND TO DEMAND THAT WE DO, IN FACT, ATTEND TO THE
           NEEDS OF THIS EMERGING COUNTRY. AS THE SENATOR FROM WISCONSIN
           POINTED OUT, I'VE TRAVELED TO EAST TIMOR TWICE LAST YEAR. THE
           FIRST TIME WAS JUST A WEEK BEFORE THE REFERENDUM. I TRAVELED
           WITH SENATOR HARKIN AND OUR COLLEAGUE FROM THE OTHER BODY,
           CONGRESS MAN JIM MCGOVERN OF MASSACHUSETTS. WE WERE THERE JUST
           A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION. AND WHAT STRUCK US WAS THE
           INCREDIBLE COURAGE OF THE PEOPLE OF EAST TIMOR. IT WAS AN

           OMINOUS AND FOREBODING ATMOSPHERE. ARMED MILITIAS WERE ROAMING
           THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRYSIDE THREATENING PEOPLE, MAKING IT CLEAR
           THAT THEIR GOAL WAS TO INTIMIDATE ALL OF THE EAST TIMORESE
           EITHER NOT TO VOTE OR TO VOTE FOR CONTINUED ASSOCIATION WITH
           JAKARTA, WITH INDONESIA. AND YET DESPITE THIS, WE SAW COUNTLESS
           EAST TIMORESE WILLING TO RISK THEIR LIVES, DECLARING TO US THAT
           THEY WOULD VOTE, THAT THEY WOULD RISK THEIR LIVES. I HAD THE
           OCCASION IN SWAI TO BE SPEAKING AT A CHURCH WHERE THERE WERE

           THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED PERSONS GATHERED AROUND THIS CHURCH
           UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THREE PRIESTS. AND I TOLD THEM THAT THE
           VOTE IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE ARMY ARMY. NOT ONLY DID THEY
           BELIEVE THAT, BUT THEY RISKED THEIR LIVES TO PROVE IT. SADLY,
           WITH THE CONCLUSION OF THE PLEBISCITE, THE REFERENDUM, THE
           MILITIAS WENT WILD, CONDUCTING A RAMPAGE THROUGHOUT EAST TIMOR.
           IN FACT, THE THREE PRIESTS IN SUWAI, WHO WERE LEADING THEIR

           KONG -- CONGREGATIONS, WERE SLAUGHTERED BY THE MANY LISH AS
           BECAUSE THEY CHOSE TO TALK -- MILITIAS BECAUSE THEY CHOSE TO
           TALK ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION. I
           RETURNED BACK TO EAST TIMOR IN THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER.
           SINCE THE ELECTION HAD TAKEN PLACE, THE UNITED NATIONS HAD
           AUTHORIZED THE INTERVENTION OF INTERNATIONAL FORCES, AND WE OWE
           A GREAT DEAL TO THE ARMED FORCES AND THE GOVERNMENT AND THE
           PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA. BECAUSE THEY LAUNCHED THOUSANDS OF
           AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS TO ENTER THAT COUNTRY TO STABILIZE THAT

           COUNTRY AND TO LITERALLY GIVE A CHANCE TO THE PEOPLE OF EAST
           TIMOR TO BUILD A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY. WE ALSO CONTRIBUTED, THE
           UNITED STATES, ROUGHLY 200 TROOPS. THE LEADERSHIP WAS LED BY
           OUR UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS. THE BULK OF THE TROOPS WERE
           UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES. AND THESE TROOPS, ONCE AGAIN,
           DISPLAYED MAGNIFICENTLY THE ABILITY OF AMERICAN FORCES TO
           RESPOND TO A CRISIS AND TO BRING TO BEAR NOT JUST OUR

           TECHNOLOGY BUT OUR VALUES, AS THEY SUPPORTED DEMOCRACY, THAT
           STRUGGLING DEMOCRACY, WHICH IS STRUGGLING TO EMERGE IN EAST
           TIMOR. NOW, THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT HAS FORMALLY RENOUNCED
           THEIR CLAIM TO EAST TIMOR. IT IS BEING ADMINISTERED IN THE
           INTERIM BY THE UNITED NATIONS. WE HAD THE CHANCE IN OUR LAST
           VISIT AT THE END OF NOVEMBER/BEGINNING OF DECEMBER TO MEET WITH
           THE LEADERSHIP OF THE UNITED NATIONS. THEY ARE LED BY A VERY

           ACCOMPLISHED DIPLOMAT, SURGE JOE DIMELL -- SERGIO DIMELLO. BUT
           I HAVE TO SAY THAT THEIR EFFORTS TO DATE ARE QUITE FEEBLE WHEN
           IT COMES TO THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGES THAT THEY FACE. AND SO I
           THINK THE WHOLE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAS TO STEP UP AND
           ASSIST THIS EFFORT OF RECONSTRUCTION. BECAUSE ONE THING WAS
           PAINFULLY OBVIOUS TO US AS WE TRAVELED THROUGH EAST TIMOR. THE
           COUNTRY WAS DELIBERATELY CYNICALLY DESTROYED. EVERY BUILDING
           THAT WAS WORTH HABITATION WAS BURNED. IRONICALLY AND

           INTERESTINGLY, BECAUSE I THINK THE INDONESIAN MILITARY WAS
           CALLING ALL THE SHOTS, THEY DIDN'T TOUCH ANY OF THE CHURCHES,
           BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT WOULD PROBABLY MAKE IT TO CNN. BUT JUST
           FEET -- A FEW FEET AWAY FROM EVERY CHURCH, ROWS AND ROWS OF
           BUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED. AND WE MET THE PEOPLE OF EAST TIMOR,
           PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING FOR JUST THE BASICS OF ASSISTANCE NOW
           AFTER ALL THIS MAYHEM AND DESTRUCTION. AND ONCE AGAIN, LET ME
           COMMEND THE MILITARY FORCES, PARTICULARLY OUR FORCES, WHO ARE

           THERE TODAY, WHO ARE HELPING OUT. BUT WE HAVE A GREAT DEAL TO
           DO TO ENSURE THAT OUR WORDS ABOUT INDEPENDENCE, OUR WORDS ABOUT
           THE VALUE OF DEMOCRACY, OUR WORDS ABOUT SELF-DETERMINATION ARE
           TRANSFERRED INTO PALPABLE PROGRESS FOR THE PEOPLE OF EAST
           TIMOR. WE'VE GOT AN OPPORTUNITY -- I SAY AN OBLIGATION -- TO
           GIVE THEM RESOURCES TO GET THE JOB DONE. I BELIEVE WE SHOULD
           START WITH AN APPROPRIATION OF $25 MILLION FOR HUMANITARIAN
           ASSISTANCE SO THAT THEY CAN RECONSTRUCT THEIR SCHOOLS AND THEIR
           INFRASTRUCTURE. LITERALLY THE MILITIAS AND THE INDONESIAN ARMY

           DESTROYED ALL RECORDS, ALL POSTAL RECORDS, ALL IDENTIFICATION
           RECORDS, ALL LAND RECORDS. THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN TOTALLY
           DEVASTATED, DELIBERATELY, CYNICALLY DESTROYED. WE HAVE AN
           OBLIGATION TO HELP THEM REBUILD. AND THEY ARE A PEOPLE THAT
           WANT TO REBUILD, THAT WANT TO MAKE PROGRESS AND GO FORWARD.
           NOW, I ALSO HAD THE CHANCE WHILE I WAS IN EAST TIMOR TO TRAVEL
           TO WEST TIMOR, WHICH IS STILL PART OF INDONESIA. AND I WENT TO
           THESE CAMPS WHERE THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF EAST TIMORESE, MANY OF

           WHOM WERE TAKEN AGAINST THEIR WILL FROM THEIR HOMES AND BROUGHT
           INTO THESE CAMPS. NOW, THESE CAMPS ARE NOT A PLACE WHERE A
           PERSON CAN STAY INDEFINITELY. IT'S TRANSITORY SHELTER. MANY
           PEOPLE ARE THERE BECAUSE THEY'RE INTIMIDATED BY THE MILITIAS,
           WHO ARE STILL LURKING IN THESE CAMPS. OTHERS ARE JUST FEARFUL
           OF GOING BACK HOME, AFRAID THAT THEY MIGHT RUN INTO RETRIBUTION
           BY THOSE THAT STED BEHIND, BY THE PRO-LIBERATION DEMOCRACY
           FORCES FORCES. BUT IN ANY CASE, THEY ARE CREATING A HUGE

           PROBLEM OF ASSIMILATION AND A HUGE DRAIN ON THE RESOURCES OF
           THE VILLAGES OF WEST TIMOR. I HAD A CHANCE TO MEET WITH THE
           CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES, WHO ARE DOING GREAT WORK THERE, AND
           REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. WE HAVE A REAL
           OBLIGATION ALSO TO SEE THAT THESE DISPLACED PEOPLE IN WEST
           TIMOR ARE ALLOWED TO GO HOME SAFELY AND TO REINTEGRATE INTO
           THEIR SOCIETY, INTO THEIR NEW COUNTRY OF EAST TIMOR. THE WORK
           IS SUBSTANTIAL, AND TODAY'S EFFORT BY THE SENATOR FROM

           WISCONSIN, AFTER MANY, MANY DAYS TO GET THIS MEASURE TO THE
           FLOOR, SHOULD, AS I SAY, NOT BE A SIGNAL THAT THE PROBLEM'S
           SOLVED, THAT WE CAN WITHDRAW, NO LONGER IS EAST TIMOR CAPTURING
           THE FRONT-PAGE HEADLINES. IT SHOULD RATHER BE AN OBLIGATION OR
           AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO RECOMMIT OURSELVES TO DO THE WORK OF
           HELPING THESE PEOPLE BUILD A JUST, DECENT AND VIABLE SOCIETY
           AND COUNTRY COUNTRY. NOW, LET ME SAY A FINAL WORD, BECAUSE WE
           ARE ALL HERE TODAY TALKING ABOUT AN ISSUE THAT HAS BEEN ON THE

           MINDS OF THE WORLD FOR THE LAST YEAR BECAUSE OF THE PUBLICITY.
           BUT LONG BEFORE EAST TIMOR WAS A WELL-KNOWN WORD HERE IN THE
           UNITED STATES AND AROUND THE CAPITALS OF THE WORLD, THERE WAS
           ONE MEMBER OF THIS SENATE -- SENATOR CLAIBORNE PELL -- WHO
           STROFE MIGHTILY TO POINT OUT THE IN -- WHO STROVE MIGHT
           MIGHTILY TO POINT OUT THE INJUSTICE AND THE NEED FOR FREEDOM.
           IN 1992, SENATOR PELL TRAVELED TO INDONESIA, SAW THE PRESIDENT,
           AND ASKED HIM TO HOLD A PLEBISCITE ON SELF-DETERMINATION. A

           FULL SEVEN YEARS OR MORE BEFORE THIS REFERENDUM WAS HELD HELD.
           HE ALSO WANTED TO SEE BUT WAS DENIED PERMISSION TO SEE THE
           LEADER OF THE EAST TIMORESE, SHANAH GUEZMEL. UNCOUNTED, HE CAME
           BACK, HE HELD HEARINGS. HE KEPT THIS -- UNCOUNTED, HE CAME
           BACK, HE HELD HEARINGS, HE KEPT THIS IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF
           MANY IN THE WORLD. AND IN A VERY PARTICULAR WAY, THE FREEDOM OF
           EAST TIMOR TODAY IS A TRIBUTE TO HIS EFFORTS -- QUIET,
           PERSISTENT EFFORTS -- THROUGH MANY, MANY YEARS. AND THE FACT

           THAT TODAY THAT SHANAH GUEZMEL IS BACK HOME IN EAST TIMOR, IS A
           LEADER IN THAT COMMUNITY, A COMMUNITY WHICH WILL DECIDE ITS OWN
           FATE, A FREE COUNTRY EMERGING IN THE WORLD IS A TRIBUTE, AGAIN,
           TO SENATOR PELL. LET ME JUST CONCLUDE BY THANKING ONCE AGAIN
           SENATOR FEINGOLD FOR HIS GREAT EFFORT, HIS CLEAR VOICE, HIS
           UNSTINTING COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLE. AND LET US ALL RESOLVE
           TODAY THAT WE'VE JUST BEGUN TO HELP THESE PEOPLE, TO HELP THESE
           PEOPLE REBUILD THEIR COUNTRY, THEIR SOCIETY AND TO CREATE A

           SOCIETY WHICH WILL HAVE OUR VALUES BUT WILL HAVE DEFINITELY
           THEIR OWN PERSPECTIVE AS EAST TIMORESE. AND I YIELD BACK MY
           TIME.
           

           MR. FEINGOLD: MR. PRESIDENT, HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE REMAINING?
           
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE SENATOR HAS 13 MINUTES REMAINING.
           

           MR. FEINGOLD: MR. PRESIDENT, LET ME JUST AGAIN THANK THE
           SENATOR FROM RHODE ISLAND FOR HIS EXTREMELY DEDICATED WORK ON
           THIS ISSUE. IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE WORKING WITH HIM ON IT. AND I
           WANT TO REITERATE WHAT HE SAID, WHICH IS THAT THIS IS ANOTHER
           OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO TELL OUR COLLEAGUES, AS WELL AS INDONESIA
           AND THE REST OF THE WORLD, THAT WE ARE WATCHING THIS ON A DAILY
           BASIS AND WE ARE PREPARED TO ACT AGAIN. LEGISLATION IS STILL
           VERY VIABLE AND WE ARE PREPARED TO OFFER IT AS AN AMENDMENT TO
           ANOTHER BILL IF THE SITUATION BECOMES DIFFICULT. AT THIS POINT,

           MR. PRESIDENT, I WOULD SIMPLY ASK THAT A QUORUM CALL BE PUT IN
           MOMENTARILY.
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE CLERK WILL CALL THE ROLL.
           
           
           
           
           
           
           QUORUM CALL:
           

           MR. FEINGOLD: MR. PRESIDENT?
           
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE SENATOR FROM WISCONSIN.
           

           MR. FEINGOLD: MR. PRESIDENT, I ASK THAT FURTHER PROCEEDINGS
           UNDER THE QUORUM CALL BE DISPENSED WITH.
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: WITHOUT OBJECTION.
           

           MR. FEINGOLD: MR. PRESIDENT, AT THIS TIME, I'M DELIGHTED TO
           YIELD THE REMAINING TIME THAT WE HAVE ON THIS EAST TIMOR
           AMENDMENT TO THE DISTINGUISHED SENATOR FROM IOWA, WHO, ALONG
           WITH THE SENATOR FROM RHODE ISLAND, HAVE SHOWN NOT ONLY A
           TREMENDOUS INTEREST AND DEDICATION ON THE ISSUE OF EAST TIMOR
           BUT TOOK THE TIME AND THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ACTUALLY
           VISITING EAST TIMOR AT A VERY CRITICAL POINT AND CAME BACK HERE
           AND HAVE BEEN KEY TO THE ENTIRE EFFORT TO LEAD TO EAST TIMORESE
           INDEPENDENCE. AND I KNOW BASED ON THE COMMENTS FROM SENATOR
           HARKIN THAT HE, ALONG WITH SENATOR REED AND MYSELF AND OTHERS

           ARE GOING TO WATCH THIS EVERY DAY TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS
           SITUATION MOVES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND WE DON'T GO
           BACKWARDS. SO I YIELD WHATEVER TIME IS NECESSARY TO THE SENATOR
           FROM IOWA.
           

           THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE SENATOR FROM IOWA.
           

           MR. HARKIN: I THANK THE CHAIR, AND I THANK MY COLLEAGUE AND
           FRIEND FROM WISCONSIN, BOTH FOR YIELDING ME SOME TIME, BUT MORE
           IMPORTANTLY, FOR HIS STRONG AND CONTINUED LEADERSHIP ON THIS
           ISSUE OF EAST TIMOR. AS WE ALL KNOW, EAST TIMOR IS A SMALL, NEW
           NATION AND A FARAWAY PLACE. AND A LET OF TIMES WE TEND TO
           FORGET ABOUT IT AND PUSH IT OFF -- AND A LOT OF TIMES, WE TEND
           TO FORGET ABOUT IT AND PUSH IT OFF TO THE SIDE. BUT WE CAN'T.
           WE CAN'T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED IN EAST TIMOR. AND I THINK IT'S

           INCUMBENT UPON US, AS THE LEADER OF THE WORLD'S DEMOCRACIES, AS
           THE NATION THAT HOLD OUT TO OPPRESSED PEOPLES ALL OVER THE
           WORLD THE IDEALS OF SELF-DETERMINATION AND DEMOCRATIC
           INSTITUTIONS, THAT BECAUSE WE'RE IN THAT POSITION POSITION, WE
           HAVE TO TAKE A LEADERSHIP POSITION AMONG WORLD COMMUNITIES AND

           FOCUSING AND KEEPING OUR ATTENTION FOCUSED ON EAST TIMOR. THESE
           BRAVE PEOPLE FOR OVER 20 -- 25 -- ALMOST 25 YEARS CONTINUED
           THEIR STRUGGLE. PEACEFULLY, I MIGHT ADD. FOR THEIR OWN RIGHT OF
           SELF-DETERMINATION. WHEN THE PORTUGUESE LEFT IN 19
{END: 2000/02/01 TIME: 15-15 , Tue.  106TH SENATE, SECOND SESSION}