[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10041-S10043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order
for me to make my remarks seated at my desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry, please. Is there an amendment
pending?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is no amendment pending.
Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
Amendment No. 1724
(Purpose: To protect United States military personnel and other elected
and appointed officials of the United States government against
criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to which the
United States is not party)
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 1724 and ask that
it be stated.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from North Carolina [Mr. Helms], for himself,
Mr. Miller, Mr. Allen, Mr. Bond, Mr. Hatch, and Mr.
Murkowski, proposes an amendment numbered 1724.
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of
the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The text of the amendment is printed in today's Record under
``Amendments Submitted.'')
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I have worked with our colleague from
Georgia, Senator Miller, to craft legislation to protect our soldiers
and officials from illegitimate prosecutions by the International
Criminal Court. Senator Miller and I and Senators Lott, Warner, Hatch,
Shelby, and Murkowski together introduced the American Service Members
Protection Act on May 9 of this year. We have worked since that time
with the administration to craft the pending amendment, and the
administration favors this amendment quite strongly.
Our soldiers and decisionmakers will be all the more exposed to the
risk of illegitimate prosecution as they proceed with ``Operation
Enduring Freedom,'' as it has been named, against those who on
September 11 committed mass murder against innocent American civilians.
The pending amendment ensures that countries, or overzealous
prosecutors and judges, will never be able to use this court to
persecute American military personnel carrying out war against
terrorism.
[[Page S10042]]
At this time of national mobilization to fight terrorists who killed
thousands of American citizens in New York and Pennsylvania and right
near us at the Pentagon, there is a consensus in Congress that we
should give the President the tools he needs to carry out the mission.
Chairman Henry Hyde, of the House International Relations Committee,
and I have painstakingly negotiated refinements to the American Service
Members Protection Act with the Bush administration, and this revised
version of the bill gives the President the flexibility and authority
to delegate provisions in the legislation to Cabinet Secretaries and
their deputies in this time of national emergency.
As a result of these careful negotiations, I have a letter dated
September 25, 2001, from the Assistant Secretary of State for
Legislative Affairs. His name is Paul V. Kelly. He indicates in his
letter that the administration supports enactment of the precise
language in my amendment to the Defense authorization bill. By the way,
I submitted that letter for the Record last week, specifically on
September 26.
So it will be a matter of record again, I ask unanimous consent that
the letter from Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs
Paul V. Kelly be printed in the Record at this point.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
Department of State,
Bureau of Legislative Affairs,
Washington, DC, September 25, 2001.
Hon. Henry J. Hyde,
Chairman, Committee on International Relations, House of
Representatives.
Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter advises that the
Administration supports the revised text of the American
Servicemembers' Protection Act (ASPA), dated September 10,
2001, proposed by you, Senator Helms and Mr. DeLay.
We commit to support enactment of the revised bill in its
current form based upon the agreed changes without further
amendment and to oppose alternative legislative proposals.
We understand that the House ASPA legislation will be
attached to the State Department Authorization Bill or other
appropriate legislation.
Sincerely,
Paul V. Kelly,
Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.
Several Senators addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina has the floor.
Does the Senator from North Carolina yield the floor?
Mr. HELMS. If the Senator will indicate why he is seeking
recognition, I will be glad to consider it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The gentleman from North Carolina has the
floor.
Mr. LEVIN. As manager of the bill, I say to my friend from North
Carolina I did not hear that last unanimous consent request. I am
sorry.
Mr. HELMS. I just inserted a letter in the Record.
Mr. LEVIN. I thank the Senator.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is speaking.
The Senator will continue speaking, and the Senate will be in order.
Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
We have a responsibility as Senators to enact an insurance policy for
our troops and our officials--such as Secretary of State Powell--to
protect them from a U.N. Kangaroo Court where the United States has no
veto. That is precisely what this amendment is all about. Let me state
for the record, to be absolutely certain there is no mistake made about
it, (1) this amendment will prohibit U.S. cooperation with the court,
including use of taxpayer funding or sharing of classified information;
(2) it will restrict a U.S. role in peacekeeping missions unless the
United Nations specifically exempts U.S. troops from prosecution by
this international court; (3) it blocks U.S. aid to allies unless they
too sign accords to shield U.S. troops on their soil from being turned
over to the court; and (4) it authorizes the President to take any
necessary action to rescue U.S. soldiers, any service man or woman,
improperly handed over to that Court.
Now, then, my very good friend from Connecticut, and he is my
friend--we have worked together on a number of things--Senator Dodd,
has made comments about this legislation which I feel obliged to
address. This past Wednesday, September 26, the distinguished Senator
from Connecticut, here on the Senate floor, said:
``This amendment is called, ironically [Senator Dodd said],
the American Servicemen's Protection Act. It is anything but
[said Senator Dodd]. The establishment of this amendment
places our men and women in uniform in greater jeopardy than
they would be if we were to participate in trying to develop
the structures of this court to minimize problems.
Now that is quoting Senator Dodd, my friend, a friend of all of ours.
But that's not the case. I hope I might persuade Senator Dodd to
withdraw that statement because it is not the case. Let me repeat for
emphasis, it is not the case at all. The pending amendment does nothing
whatsoever to preclude the Bush administration from taking any action
it deems necessary to address our concerns during the Preparatory
Commission meetings of the International Criminal Court.
However, we should not be misled: the negotiators of this Court have
no intent to amend the treaty creating the Court to meet our
objections. In fact, negotiators voiced a loud cheer when they finished
negotiation of the treaty in 1999--over the objections of the United
States of America.
Senator Dodd himself acknowledged that the Rome Treaty creating the
Court is fatally flawed, when he stated:
In fact, if, for some reason, miraculously the proposal
were brought to this Senate Chamber this afternoon, and I
were asked to vote on it as is, I would vote against it
because it is a flawed agreement.
Also, when President Clinton signed the Rome Treaty on December 31,
2000, he stated that he would not send the treaty to the Senate for
ratification and recommended that President Bush not transmit it
either, given the remaining flaws in the Court.
So let me be, as the saying goes, perfectly clear. The pending
amendment would shield American service people, men and women, from a
court run amok. U.N. bodies often run amok. For instance, filled with
dictatorships, the U.N. Human Rights Commission condemned the only
democracy in the Middle East, Israel, in multiple resolutions earlier
this year.
And just five weeks ago, the United Nations Conference on Racism in
Durban South Africa, became an agent of hate rather than against hate.
If U.N. commissions and conferences run amok, a permanent court, not
subject to Security Council approval--and immune to a U.S. veto--could
well turn on us, and on our democratic allies (the most likely one
being Israel).
We need only to look back to the Kosovo War when the Bosnian
Tribunal's chief prosecutor attempted to undertake an investigation of
NATO for war crimes abuses.
Mr. President, despite the importance of this pending amendment with
my sponsorship and that of others, opponents may want to hide behind
procedural objections in an effort to just make our amendment go away.
Unfortunately, this kangaroo court is not going away, it will be there,
and the risk to our service men and women will exist as long as it is
there unless we do something, as described in this amendment.
In the meantime, our Secretaries of State and Defense are telling us
and the American people at the same time to get ready for a long
campaign against global terrorists. We owe it, don't we, to our men and
women representing this country, both in the military and in civilian
agencies, to ensure their actions are not the subject of second-
guessing by United Nations judicial bodies?
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, would the Senator kindly yield for me to
make this observation?
It had been the intention of the leadership of the Senate, and the
managers, in order to accommodate Senators desiring to attend the
briefing, to go into recess subject to the call of the Chair. Is that
correct?
Mr. REID. I appreciate very much the Senator from North Carolina
allowing us to interrupt. We have a number of people attending from the
administration.
Mr. HELMS. Of course. I understand.
Mr. REID. We would be happy to allow the Senator to complete his
statement, and as soon as that statement is completed, we ask the
Senate be in recess subject to the call of the Chair, and at some
subsequent time after we come back, I understand some people may want
to raise a point of order against this amendment.
[[Page S10043]]
Mr. HELMS. I understand the same thing. I have about 2 minutes more.
I will stop now.
Mr. REID. No, no. We thought the Senator from North Carolina was
going to speak much longer. We would be happy to wait until----
Mr. HELMS. I wouldn't think of putting you in that position.
Mr. President, let me yield to the Senator on condition that I will
have the floor when the Senate reconvenes.
Mr. REID. It is my understanding the Senator would want the floor
when the Senate comes back in session?
Mr. HELMS. I think that was my unanimous consent request.
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