[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18231-18232]
[From the U.S. 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.
  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.

[[Page 18232]]

  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.
  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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