[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 8, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S4975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 34--CALLING FOR THE PROSECUTION OF IRAQIS 
      AND THEIR SUPPORTERS FOR WAR CRIMES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mr. Biden) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 34

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the governments of the United States, the United 
     Kingdom, and other nations comprising the coalition 
     conducting Operation Iraqi Freedom should ensure the 
     prosecution by tribunal of persons in the Government of Iraq, 
     persons in the armed forces of Iraq, and any other persons, 
     regardless of nationality, who order, direct, solicit, 
     procure, coordinate, participate in, or support acts in 
     violation of the international law of armed conflict 
     (including the aspects of such law set forth in the Hague and 
     Geneva Conventions) that are directed at members of the armed 
     forces of the coalition nations or at the people of Iraq or 
     any other nation;
       (2) in the determination of appropriate persons to be 
     charged and tried by such tribunal on the basis of command 
     responsibility for any violation, consideration should be 
     given to identifying responsible persons throughout the full 
     range of the chain of command, and not only persons within 
     formal chains of command of the government and armed forces 
     of Iraq, but also persons integral to any informal link by 
     which a person in the government of Iraq or the armed forces 
     of Iraq, or any other person, directs paramilitary, 
     political, or guerrilla forces;
       (3) in the determination of appropriate persons to be 
     charged and tried by such tribunal, consideration should also 
     be given to identifying persons who use political position or 
     mass media in any of the violations; and
       (4) in the determination of the violations of the 
     international law of armed conflict to be tried by the 
     tribunal, particular attention should be given to acts in the 
     nature of those that, as of the date of this resolution, have 
     already been committed by Iraqi directed forces, such as--
       (A) the abuse of places protected from military attack 
     under international law of armed conflict, such as the use of 
     mosques and hospitals as military headquarters or for other 
     military purposes;
       (B) the ruse by which Iraqi combatants wear civilian 
     clothing instead of, or over, uniforms to conceal their 
     status as combatants and, while so clothed, attack coalition 
     forces, including by means of suicide bombing by which a 
     combatant appearing to be a civilian operator of a car 
     detonates explosives concealed in the car;
       (C) the ruse by which Iraqi combatants feign surrender to 
     coalition forces to gain advantage used by the Iraqi 
     combatants to attack personnel of the coalition forces;
       (D) the use of civilians or other persons protected under 
     international law of armed conflict as human shields for 
     Iraqi combatants on the battlefield;
       (E) assault, murder, kidnapping, or torture of civilians or 
     other persons protected under international law in order to 
     terrorize those persons or others or to prevent them from 
     gaining the protection of coalition forces;
       (F) abuse, torture, assault, or murder of personnel of 
     coalition forces entitled to treatment as prisoners of war or 
     of civilians entitled to a protected status under 
     international law; and
       (G) recruitment or encouragement of non-Iraqi foreign 
     nationals to engage in violations of the international law of 
     armed conflict.

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