Don Nickles: “There is a significant range. I will go over a few of these countries, but the essence of it is that none of these…”

“There is a significant range. I will go over a few of these countries, but the essence of it is that none of these countries have received payments on Iraqi debt for years. In most cases, for decades payments have not been made. Saddam Hussein incurred a lot of debt. The countries holding that debt may hold it as if it is worth something, but, frankly, no payments have been made on that debt for some time. Who holds that debt? The range of the total amount of debt according to CRS--and I am not talking about war reparations for Saddam Hussein's war with Iran and invasion of Kuwait. There are a lot of claimed reparations for damages. That is not covered by this resolution. We are talking about debt incurred by Saddam Hussein's regime, and that was estimated by CRS as being a total of $95 billion and $153 billion. Some of the debt ranges are for Western countries and some are for Middle Eastern Gulf States. Some of the Western countries are: Canada is estimated to have $1 billion. France, from $2 billion to $8 billion; we are not certain of the exact amount. Germany, from $2 billion to $4 billion. Italy, from $1 billion to $2 billion. Japan, from $3 billion to $7 billion. Russia, from $3 billion to $16 billion. The U.K., from $1 billion to $2 billion. The United States, from $2 billion to $5 billion. These were debts incurred under the regime of Saddam Hussein. The essence of this amendment is to urge these countries to forgive or wipe off the debt from the books.”