HOUSE PASSES KING LEGISLATION ON IRAN
House Expresses Concern about Iranian Regime
as U.N. Meets Today to Hear from U.S. and Iranian Leaders
WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush addressed the United Nations on the importance of the stability of the Middle East to winning the global War on Terror, today the U.S. House passed a bill authored by U.S. Rep. Steve King (IA-05) which highlights the constitutional system established by the Iranians 100 years ago and seeks to fill the hearts of the Iranian people with the desire to reject the bonds of tyranny.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also expected to address the U.N. General Assembly today. The Iranian regime has inflamed the international community recently with the promise of proliferation of nuclear weapons and by refusing to comply with an August 31 deadline to cease uranium enrichment.
The bill, H.Res. 942, aims to inspire Iranians to return to their constitution. In the summer of 1906, thousands of Iranians, provoked by the corruption and oppression of their rulers, gathered in the public squares of Tehran in silent civil disobedience, intimidating the government with their quiet demand for a representative government. Finally, on August 5, 1906, Mozafaredin Shah issued an edict for the drafting of a constitution that would surrender power to the people.
"The current Iranian regime poses a tremendous threat to our security and the rest of the world," said King. "The will to be free of oppression is there, and it is in the best interest of global security to encourage the Iranians to return to their history of constitutional government."
H.Res. 942 is supported by the Iranian-American group National Union for Democracy in Iran. King introduced the legislation last month to mark the 100th anniversary of Iran's Constitutional Revolution. A panel of five Iranian experts, including former Cabinet officials of a former government, then met on Capitol Hill to present the historical background of the democratic revolution of 1906, and discussed the benefit of Iranian freedom to the Middle East, the United States and the world.
