[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4448 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4448

To require the President to seek the establishment of an international 
  commission for monitoring the treatment of persons in United States 
                            custody in Iraq.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 20, 2004

    Ms. Lee (for herself, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Leach, and Mr. Crowley) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the President to seek the establishment of an international 
  commission for monitoring the treatment of persons in United States 
                            custody in Iraq.

    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 ``International Commission To Monitor 
United States-Held Prisoners in Iraq Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Serious allegations have been raised and substantial 
        evidence exists that physical and sexual abuse have taken place 
        within Abu Ghraib Prison and potentially other facilities under 
        the management of the United States Armed Forces or 
        intelligence services in Iraq.
            (2) In the Convention Relative to the Treatment of 
        Prisoners of War, signed at Geneva on August 12, 1949 (referred 
        to as the ``Third Geneva Convention''), the international 
        community has prescribed rules concerning the treatment of 
        prisoners of war.
            (3) The United States, along with more than 190 other 
        countries, is a party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and 
        abiding by the terms of those conventions is very much in the 
        national security interests of the United States.
            (4) The Third Geneva Convention prohibits inhumane 
        treatment of prisoners of war, acts of violence and insults 
        against them, and the infliction of physical or mental torture, 
        or any other form of coercion, on such prisoners.
            (5) A report, the ``Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th 
        Military Police Brigade'', prepared by Major General Antonio M. 
        Taguba, Deputy Commanding General Support, Coalition Forces 
        Land Component Command, which has been made public in the 
        national media, reads in part, ``That between October and 
        December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement Facility (BCCF), 
        numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal 
        abuses were inflicted on several detainees.''.
            (6) This report also describes the ``systemic and illegal 
        abuse of detainees''.
            (7) According to congressional testimony, the International 
        Committee of the Red Cross provided a number of warnings to 
        Coalition forces regarding conditions in certain Iraqi prisons 
        and provided a written report to Coalition headquarters 
        personnel in November 2003 that similar abuses were occurring 
        at the Abu Ghraib facility.
            (8) The Wall Street Journal has published the February 2004 
        ``Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
        on the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War 
        and other Protected Persons by the Geneva Conventions in Iraq 
        during Arrest, Internment, and Interrogation'', detailing 
        complaints of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in United 
        States custody which was sent to United States officials.
            (9) The International Committee of the Red Cross asserted 
        at a recent press conference that it had repeatedly expressed 
        written and verbal concerns regarding the widespread 
        mistreatment of prisoners, including in meetings at the highest 
        level of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
            (10) The February 2004 report of the International 
        Committee of the Red Cross detailed violations including 
        ``Brutality against protected persons upon capture and initial 
        custody, sometimes causing death or serious injury . . . 
        Physical or psychological coercion during interrogation to 
        secure information . . . [and] Excessive and disproportionate 
        use of force against persons deprived of their liberty 
        resulting in death or injury during their period of 
        internment.''.
            (11) The International Committee of the Red Cross also 
        found that ``[arresting authorities] rarely informed the 
        arrestee or his family where he was being taken and for how 
        long, resulting in the de facto `disappearance' of the arrestee 
        for weeks or even months until contact was finally made.''.
            (12) Congress has the utmost confidence that such abuses do 
        not typify the behavior of the vast majority of the tens of 
        thousands of United States Armed Forces personnel and allies in 
        Operation Iraqi Freedom.
            (13) The evidence of abuse documented by photographic and 
        videographic images released in the media has aroused 
        international outcry, damaged United States relations with 
        other countries, and potentially added to the dangers faced by 
        United States military personnel or civilians who may be 
        captured by adversaries.
            (14) Congress was not fully informed of the existence, 
        seriousness, or investigation of those abuses until after the 
        abuses had been disclosed in the national media.
            (15) House Concurrent Resolution 118, which was passed by 
        the House of Representatives on March 27, 2003, by a vote of 
        419-0, resolved that the Congress demanded ``that Iraqi 
        authorities comply fully and immediately with its obligations 
        and responsibilities of the Convention Relative to the 
        Treatment of Prisoners of War'', condemned ``the failure of 
        Iraqi authorities to treat prisoners of war in strict 
        conformity with that Convention'', and joined ``the President 
        in warning all Iraqi authorities that any individual who 
        mistreats any prisoner of war in violation of that Convention 
        shall be considered a war criminal and prosecuted as such to 
        the full extent of United States and international law''.
            (16) Greater oversight and transparency in the management 
        of United States-run prisons in Iraq is clearly needed.
            (17) The United States must take immediate and concrete 
        steps to build confidence among Iraqis in our actions and 
        motives.
            (18) It is imperative that the Iraqi people be given a 
        greater role in the operation of the prison system in their 
        country.
            (19) Greater international cooperation and assistance in 
        the management of the Iraqi prisons would provide greater 
        reassurance to the Iraqi people and the international community 
        that the United States is abiding by the Geneva Conventions of 
        1949.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MONITORING 
              TREATMENT OF PERSONS IN UNITED STATES CUSTODY IN IRAQ.

    (a) Establishment.--The President shall seek to establish an 
international commission for monitoring the treatment of persons in 
United States custody in Iraq.
    (b) Scope of Duties.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
international commission referred to in subsection (a) should monitor 
the treatment of persons in United States custody in Iraq so as to 
ensure compliance with the terms of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and 
other relevant international instruments and to provide assurances to 
the people of Iraq and the international community that the treatment 
of such persons is in accordance with international law.
    (c) Membership.--It is the sense of Congress that the international 
commission referred to in subsection (a) should include representatives 
from--
            (1) the interim or transitional government in Iraq;
            (2) Iraqi civil society;
            (3) the International Committee of the Red Cross;
            (4) the International Federation of Red Cross and Red 
        Crescent Societies;
            (5) the United Nations; and
            (6) the United States Armed Forces and Coalition forces.
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