[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OPERATION PROVIDE COMFORT OVER IRAQ

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 20, 1998

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for 
legislation in the 106th Congress to compensate the families of the 
Americans who were killed on April 14, 1994 while serving in Operation 
Provide Comfort over Iraq. This is an important issue and should be a 
priority in the next Congress.
  On April 14, 1994, 15 Americans, 14 military personnel and 1 
civilian, and 11 foreign nationals, were killed when their Army Black 
Hawk helicopters, were shot out of the sky by two Air Force F-15's. 
According to the General Accounting Office, this horrible tragedy 
resulted from over 130 separate mistakes by the Air Force and the Army. 
After this incident, the Department of Defense made $100,000 payments 
to the families of the foreign nationals in addition to the other death 
benefits they received from their own countries. Unfortunately, the 
Pentagon was not willing to give the same treatment to the American 
families.
  Mr. Speaker, the Pentagon was wrong not to give our own personnel the 
same treatment that they gave the survivors of the foreign nationals. 
The Immigration and Claims Subcommittee held a hearing on this issue on 
June 18, 1998 and heard from both Government witnesses and the 
families. At that hearing, the Pentagon was unable to provide a 
credible answer for why they did not give the Americans the same 
treatment as the foreign nationals. The Pentagon first could not answer 
whether they had the authority to make the payments to the Americans. 
Later, the Pentagon acknowledged that they had the authority to act but 
simply were unwilling to.
  At that hearing, the Subcommittee members heard the stories of the 
American families and the pain they suffered. This hits particularly 
close to home for me because Anthony Bass, one of the personnel killed, 
was the son of my cousin and I know the great suffering his family has 
endured. The Basses and all of the families, put their sons and 
daughters, and husbands and wives, in the care of our armed forces, but 
they were let down when the foreign nationals were treated better than 
their loved ones.
  Mr. Speaker, I would particularly like to commend the leadership of 
Mr. Watt, the Ranking Member and Mr. Smith, the Chairman of the 
Immigration and Claims Subcommittee, who have worked in a bipartisan 
fashion to make the Pentagon do the right thing. There were a number of 
bills introduced during the 105th Congress, including Congressman 
Watt's bill, H.R. 3022, to correct this tragic inequity and fairly 
compensate the families. Unfortunately, the Subcommittee did not have 
time this year to consider this important issue because of the many 
other issues before the Committee.
  I look forward to the 106th Congress when we will pass legislation if 
the Pentagon continues to refuse to correct this injustice. Let me say, 
though, I hope the Pentagon chooses to act so Congress does not have 
to. Thus far, the Pentagon has sent a message to tell our military 
personnel and civilian employees that the lies of foreigners are worth 
more than theirs. That is wrong and must be corrected.

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