[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 472 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 472

Expressing the sense of Congress that the apprehension, detention, and 
interrogation of terrorists are fundamental elements in the successful 
 prosecution of the Global War on Terrorism and the protection of the 
          lives of United States citizens at home and abroad.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 14, 2004

  Mr. Hunter submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
 referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition 
  to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the apprehension, detention, and 
interrogation of terrorists are fundamental elements in the successful 
 prosecution of the Global War on Terrorism and the protection of the 
          lives of United States citizens at home and abroad.

Whereas throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the people of the United States were 
        brutally attacked again and again by deadly terrorist violence, as 
        evidenced by the hundreds of American deaths in the Beirut and Lockerbie 
        bombings, the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, the destruction 
        of the Khobar Towers military barracks, the bombing of the American 
        embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the vicious attacks on the U.S.S. 
        Cole in 2000;
Whereas terrorists became increasingly emboldened after each attack, culminating 
        in the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 
        September 11, 2001, which killed thousands of innocent civilians, 
        including women and children;
Whereas terrorist attacks on the United States and United States citizens killed 
        2,792 Americans and wounded 220 Americans between 1998 and 2003;
Whereas since September 11, 2001, the citizens of the United States have 
        remained the priority target of terrorist violence, with journalists and 
        employees of nongovernmental organizations being held hostage, tortured, 
        and decapitated in the name of terror;
Whereas the United States is engaged in a global war against terrorists who 
        threaten the lives of citizens of the United States and the American way 
        of life and in which the battlefield is the face of the entire planet;
Whereas civilized states that engage in warfare undertake obligations as lawful 
        combatants to wage war in certain ways, many of which increase the risk 
        to combatants but are intended to protect noncombatants;
Whereas the protections of international law are afforded to lawful combatants 
        in exchange for accepting and adhering to those obligations;
Whereas the United States has embraced these laws and is waging the Global War 
        on Terrorism in a manner consistent with the traditional international 
        laws of war and, in many cases, is going above and beyond the 
        requirements of international law to protect civilians;
Whereas terrorists are unlawful combatants by definition because they refuse to 
        follow the law of war by targeting civilians, hiding among the civilian 
        population, and failing to carry their arms openly;
Whereas throughout the Global War on Terrorism, the interrogation of detainees, 
        whether they are lawful or unlawful combatants, has yielded valuable 
        intelligence that has saved the lives of United States military 
        personnel and United States citizens at home and abroad;
Whereas the interrogation of detainees, whether they are lawful or unlawful 
        combatants, has also provided highly valuable insights into the 
        structure of terrorist organizations, their target selection process, 
        and the identities of key operational and logistical personnel that were 
        previously unknown to the United States intelligence community;
Whereas the lawful interrogation of detainees, whether they are lawful or 
        unlawful combatants, is consistent with the Constitution of the United 
        States;
Whereas the laws, policies, and orders of the United States and of the United 
        States Armed Forces require that the interrogation of detainees be 
        conducted in a manner that is humane and consistent with international 
        law;
Whereas the qualification training for a United States Navy SEAL includes a 120-
        hour period in which trainees are subjected to strenuous physical 
        activity while only being allowed two, two-hour blocks of sleep, yet 
        terrorists being interrogated at Guantanamo Bay may only have their 
        sleep cycles adjusted and may not be subjected to sleep deprivation 
        under the Secretary of Defense April 16, 2004, guidance on interrogation 
        techniques;
Whereas personnel in the United States military routinely eat cold Meals Ready 
        to Eat rather than hot meals and the Department of Defense recently 
        declassified an April 16, 2003, memo from the Secretary of Defense 
        indicating that unlawful combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay could 
        have their hot meals replaced by cold Meals Ready to Eat as a non-
        doctrinal interrogation technique;
Whereas United States military personnel acting as lawful combatants who are 
        captured by a foreign government honoring the Geneva Convention are not 
        entitled to legal representation in that detaining nation's civilian 
        courts to contest their detention;
Whereas responsible authorities in the Armed Forces have acted swiftly to 
        identify, investigate, and punish those who violate the requirements of 
        the laws, policies, and orders of the United States regarding the 
        treatment of detainees, whether those detainees are lawful or unlawful 
        combatants;
Whereas the loss of interrogation-derived information would have a disastrous 
        effect on the Nation's intelligence collection and counterterrorism 
        efforts and would constitute a damaging reversal in the Global War on 
        Terrorism at this critical time;
Whereas some individuals detained by the United States in the Global War on 
        Terrorism have been released, only to take up arms again against the 
        United States and its allies;
Whereas the apprehension and detention of terrorists, and the interrogation of 
        detainees, are essential elements to successfully waging the Global War 
        on Terrorism; and
Whereas the interrogation of detainees can and should continue by the United 
        States within the bounds of the Constitution and laws of the United 
        States: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the conditions and techniques of training of United 
        States military personnel are not inhumane;
            (2) persons detained in the Global War on Terrorism are not 
        entitled to privileges or treatment that are superior to those 
        afforded to United States military personnel during the course 
        of normal training operations;
            (3) terrorists, as unlawful combatants who ignore the 
        international law of war and purposely seek to kill American 
        noncombatants, are a mortal enemy of the United States and all 
        civilized nations;
            (4) the United States must continue to act to pursue 
        individuals who violate the laws, orders, and policies 
        requiring the humane treatment of persons detained in the 
        Global War on Terrorism and to ensure that such laws, orders, 
        and policies are not violated in the future;
            (5) all of the world's governments should seek to eliminate 
        terrorism as a practice by military, political, and judicial 
        means;
            (6) the United States Government should continue to develop 
        and apply processes to determine whether persons detained by it 
        are lawful or unlawful combatants and whether they continue to 
        constitute a terrorist threat;
            (7) the apprehension, detention, and interrogation of 
        terrorists are fundamental elements in the successful 
        prosecution of the Global War on Terrorism and the protection 
        of the lives of United States citizens at home and abroad; and
            (8) the overriding national priority in the Global War on 
        Terrorism must be to win the war with the least l