[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 113 (Monday, July 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8620-H8621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WAR CRIMES ACT OF 1996
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 3680) to amend title 18, United States Code, to carry
out the international obligations of the United States under the Geneva
Conventions to provide criminal penalties for certain war crimes.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3680
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``War Crimes Act of 1996''.
SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN WAR CRIMES.
(a) In General.--Title 18, United States Code, is amended
by inserting after chapter 117 the following:
``CHAPTER 118--WAR CRIMES
``Sec.
``2401. War crimes.
``Sec. 2401. War crimes
``(a) Offense.--Whoever, whether inside or outside the
United States, commits a grave breach of the Geneva
Conventions, in any of the circumstances described in
subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results
to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.
``(b) Circumstances.--The circumstances referred to in
subsection (a) are that the person committing such breach or
the victim of such breach is a member of the armed forces of
the United States or a national of the United States (as
defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act).
``(c) Definitions.--As used in this section, the term
`grave breach of the Geneva Conventions' means conduct
defined as a grave breach in any of the international
conventions relating to the laws of warfare signed at Geneva
12 August 1949 or any protocol to any such convention, to
which the United States is a party.''
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters for part I
of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting
after the item relating to chapter 117 the following new
item:
``118. War crimes...........................................2401''.....
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas [Mr. Smith] and the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Scott] each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Smith].
General Leave
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3680 is designed to implement the Geneva
conventions for the protection of victims of war. Our colleague, the
gentleman from North Carolina, Walter Jones, should be commended for
introducing this bill and for his dedication to such a worthy goal.
{time} 1445
Mr. Speaker, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 codified rules of conduct
for military forces to which we have long adhered. In 1955 Deputy Under
Secretary of State Robert Murphy testified to the Senate that--
The Geneva Conventions are another long step forward
towards mitigating the severity of war on its helpless
victims. They reflect enlightened practices as carried out by
the United States and other civilized countries, and they
represent largely what the United States would do, whether or
not a party to the Conventions. Our own conduct has served to
establish higher standards and we can only benefit by having
them incorporated in a stronger body of wartime law.
Mr. Speaker, the United States ratified the Conventions in 1955.
However, Congress has never passed implementing legislation.
The Conventions state that signatory countries are to enact penal
legislation punishing what are called grave breaches, actions such as
the deliberate killing of prisoners of war, the subjecting of prisoners
to biological experiments, the willful infliction of great suffering or
serious injury on civilians in occupied territory.
While offenses covering grave breaches can in certain instances be
prosecutable under present Federal law, even if they occur overseas,
there are a great number of instances in which no prosecution is
possible. Such nonprosecutable crimes might include situations where
American prisoners of war are killed, or forced to serve in the Army of
their captors, or American doctors on missions of mercy in foreign war
zones are kidnapped or murdered. War crimes are not a thing of the
past, and Americans can all too easily fall victim to them.
H.R. 3680 was introduced in order to implement the Geneva
Conventions. It prescribes severe criminal penalties for anyone
convicted of committing, whether inside or outside the United States, a
grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, where the victim or the
perpetrator is a member of our Armed Forces. In future conflicts H.R.
3680 may very well deter acts against Americans that violate the laws
of war.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman from Texas has fully explained, H.R.
3680 implements this country's international
[[Page H8621]]
obligation under the Geneva Convention which were ratified by the
United States in 1955 to protect the victims of war by providing
criminal penalties for certain war crimes. Mr. Speaker, this has never
been formally enacted by statute, and the bill accomplishes this
oversight.
Mr. Speaker, I will not be supporting the legislation because it
contains a new provision for the death penalty, but I can say that the
bill enjoys broad-based support on this side of the aisle.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman
from Virginia, for his comments, and I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Walter Jones, my
colleague and friend, and the author of the legislation we are
discussing right now.
Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding
time to me.
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank Chairman Smith and
his subcommittee counsel, George Fishman, for their hard work and
efforts to bring this important legislation to the floor today for
consideration.
Mr. Speaker, now more than ever, we are sending our men and women to
serve in hostile lands, and the specter of war crimes, looms over
almost every U.S. military action abroad. As a member of the House
National Security Committee, we have the responsibility of providing
these service men and women with the best training and equipment
available.
But this Congress should not stop there. We must ensure that we also
protect the rights of all Americans who are defending the interests of
our country abroad.
While it is difficult to believe, in the absence of a military
commission or an international criminal tribunal, the United States
currently has no means, by which we can try and prosecute perpetrators
of war crimes in our courts. The Geneva Convention of 1949 granted the
authority to prosecute individuals for committing ``grave breaches'' of
the Geneva Convention, however, the authority was not self-enacting.
The Geneva Convention directed each of the participating countries to
enact implementing legislation. The United States never did.
Today, it would be possible, to find a known war criminal vacationing
in our country, unconcerned with being punished for his crime. A
modern-day Adolf Hitler, could move to the United States without worry,
as he could not be found guilty in our courts of committing a war
crime. We could extradite him or deport him, but we could not try him
in America as a war criminal.
It is for these reasons that I have introduced H.R. 3680, the War
Crimes Act of 1996. H.R. 3680 will give the United States the legal
authority to try and prosecute the perpetrators of war crimes against
American citizens. Additionally, those Americans prosecuted will have
available all the procedural protections of the American justice
system.
I drafted this bill late last year, shortly after I met a gentleman
by the name of Capt. Mike Cronin who spent time as an uninvited guest
of the ``Hanoi Hilton.'' While serving in Vietnam as an A-6 pilot, Mr.
Cronin was shot down and taken prisoner of war. For 6 years he lived in
a cage. When he returned, he realized that while he and many others had
witnessed war crimes being committed, no justice could be found within
the U.S. court system because we had not yet enacted implementing
legislation of the Geneva Convention.
It is for Mike Cronin, and the many others like him who were
persecuted, that I have fought to bring this legislation to the floor
today. While the bill is not retroactive, it can ensure that any future
victims of war crimes will be given the protection of the U.S. courts.
This is a strong bipartisan bill, which will rectify the existing
discrepancy between our Nation's intolerance for war crimes and our
inability to prosecute war criminals.
Once again, I would like to thank this body, Chairman Smith, Chairman
Hyde, and Ranking Member Conyers for their support. Passage of the War
Crimes Act of 1996 is a long overdue step in the right direction.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Calvert). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Smith] that the House suspend
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3680.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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