[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCING THE EXPANDED WAR CRIMES ACT OF 1997

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Jones] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, last week I introduced the Expanded War 
Crimes Act of 1997. It is a bill which expands the jurisdiction of my 
original bill, the War Crimes Act of 1996.
  Last year I came before this House and told a story of a Navy pilot 
named Mike Cronin who had spent time as an uninvited guest of the Hanoi 
Hilton. I spoke of Mr. Cronin's time in Vietnam as an A-6 pilot and of 
his being shot down and taken prisoner of war and how he spent 6\1/2\ 
years living in a cage. Mike Cronin's story shocked many of you when I 
told you that upon his return to America he realized that while he and 
many others had witnessed horrible crimes of war being committed, no 
justice could be found within the U.S. court system because Congress 
had not yet enacted implementing legislation of the Geneva Convention. 
Well, a good number of you must have listened because I am pleased to 
say that last year Congress finally enacted implementing legislation of 
the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Held by the strong support of the State 
Department, the Defense Department, the American Red Cross, and many 
others, the War Crimes Act of 1996 finally signed into law legislation 
originally proposed back in the 83d Congress. The War Crimes Act of 
1996 gave the United States the legal authority to try and prosecute 
the perpetrators of war crimes against American citizens. Additionally 
those Americans prosecuted now have available all the procedural 
protections of the American justice systems, quite a victory for 
America.
  The 105th Congress cannot and should not stop there. We must protect 
all the rights of our men and women defending the interests of our 
country abroad. It is for that reason that I introduced the Expanded 
War Crimes Act of 1997. I stand before this body today to encourage my 
colleagues to support this expanded bill. The War Crimes Act of 1997 
expands the definition of my original bill to cover not only the grave 
breaches of the Geneva Convention but also a more general category of 
war crimes. The bill also includes important articles of the Hague 
Convention which has long been recognized as an important source of 
international humanitarian law with respects to means and method of 
warfare, and finally it includes the international protocol on land 
mines thereby insuring that the delivery and indiscriminate use of 
antipersonnel mines to harm civilians would constitute a criminal 
offense. While the bill is not retroactive, it can ensure that any 
future victims of war crimes will be given the full protection of the 
U.S. courts.
  My colleagues, it is a bill which would rectify the existing 
discrepancies between our Nation's intolerance of war crimes and our 
inability to prosecute war criminals. Please join me as a cosponsor of 
this important and critical legislation.

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