I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2224

To provide for the payment of claims of United States prisoners of war 

in the First Gulf War, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2003

Mrs. CAPITO (for herself, Mr. GOODE, and Mr. CAMP) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on International Relations, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL

To provide for the payment of claims of United States prisoners of war in the First Gulf War, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prisoner of War Pro5 tection Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) The mistreatment of prisoners of war of the 

2 United States has been a serious recurring problem 

3 in war after war, and is of immediate concern to the 

4 Nation. 

5 (2) The United States takes great pride in the 

6 protection of its service men and women, and finds 

7 intolerable the recurring pattern of mistreatment of 

8 its prisoners of war. 

9 (3) The Third Geneva Convention mandates 

10 that prisoners of war must at all times be treated 

11 humanely, and that the willful killing, torture, or in12 human treatment or willfully causing great suffering 

13 or serious injury to body or health are ‘‘grave 

14 breaches’’ of the Convention. 

15 (4) Article 129 of the Third Geneva Convention 

16 mandates that ‘‘Each High Contracting Party shall 

17 be under the obligation to search for persons alleged 

18 to have committed, or to have ordered to be com19 mitted . . . grave breaches, and shall bring such per20 sons, regardless of their nationality, before its own 

21 courts.’’. 

22 (5) Article 131 of the Third Geneva Convention 

23 provides that ‘‘No High Contracting Party shall be 

24 allowed to absolve itself or any other High Con25 tracting Party of any liability incurred by itself or 
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1 by another High Contracting Party in respect of 

2 [grave] breaches . . .’’. 

3 (6) Both the United States and the Republic of 

4 Iraq are High Contracting Parties to the Third Ge5 neva Convention, and more than 170 countries, as 

6 state parties to the convention, have assumed its ob7 ligations. 

8 (7) The Third Geneva Convention mandates 

9 that prisoners of war ‘‘must at all times be protected 

10 . . . against insults and public curiosity’’; the Iraqi 

11 practice in both the First and Second Gulf Wars of 

12 subjecting United States prisoners of war to coerced 

13 propaganda videotapes is therefore a violation of the 

14 Convention. 

15 (8) During the First Gulf War, the House of 

16 Representatives, in response to the propaganda vid17 eotapes, passed House Concurrent Resolution 48 on 

18 January 23, 1991, by a vote of 418–0, condemning 

19 ‘‘the flagrant and deliberate violations’’ by Iraq re20 sulting in the brutal torture and inhumane treat21 ment of United States prisoners of war during that 

22 war, and the Senate, also in response to the patent 

23 abuse of the prisoners of war, passed Senate Con24 current Resolution 5 on January 24, 1991, by a vote 

25 of 99–0, demanding that ‘‘Iraq abide by the prin-
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1 ciples and the obligations of the Third Geneva Con2 vention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war 

3 . . . .’’ and condemning Iraq’s failure to do so; sub4 sequently, Iraq ignored these resolutions of the Con5 gress and continued to brutally mistreat United 

6 States prisoners of war. 

7 (9) Seventeen United States prisoners of war 

8 from the First Gulf War and 37 of their family 

9 members have brought an historic action in the 

10 United States District Court for the District of Co11 lumbia against the Republic of Iraq, the Iraqi Intel12 ligence Service, and Saddam Hussein in his capacity 

13 as President of the Republic of Iraq, for the brutal 

14 torture of the prisoners of war while held by Iraq 

15 during the First Gulf War. In this action—

16 (A) an entry of default was entered against 

17 defendants on September 25, 2002; and 

18 (B) the factual and legal submissions for a 

19 judgment by the court, including detailed sworn 

20 affidavits as to Iraq’s brutal torture, were sub21 mitted to the court on March 31, 2003. 

22 Those sworn affidavits show shocking brutality di23 rected against the United States prisoners of war by 

24 Iraq. 
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1 (10) The Congress determined, in enacting sec2 tion 1605(a)(7) of title 28, United States Code, per3 mitting suit against terrorist states for personal in4 jury or death caused by an act of torture, which was 

5 the legal basis for this historic action against Iraq 

6 by the tortured United States prisoners of war, that 

7 substantial civil damages are an important addi8 tional deterrent against such acts of torture directed 

9 against nationals of the United States. 

10 (11) The Republic of Iraq and its agencies, in11 strumentalities, and controlled entities had approxi12 mately $1,730,000,000 in blocked assets in the 

13 United States at the start of the Second Gulf War. 

14 (12) Those assets were vested by the Executive 

15 Order 13290 of March 20, 2003, for the purpose of 

16 assisting in the reconstruction of Iraq. 

17 (13) Approximately $300,000,000 of the 

18 blocked assets were initially set aside for the satis19 faction of civil judgments obtained by United States 

20 hostages held in Iraq during the First Gulf War, but 

21 no amount of the blocked assets was set aside for 

22 those plaintiffs who were United States prisoners of 

23 war and who, at that time, already had an entry of 

24 default against Iraq. 
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1 (14) The plaintiffs in the historic case against 

2 Saddam Hussein and Iraq who were United States 

3 prisoners of war have established a nonprofit Foun4 dation for the assistance of United States and Allied 

5 prisoners of war and those missing in action and 

6 their families, and have pledged to the court that a 

7 substantial amount of any noncompensatory dam8 ages realized from the case will be donated to the 

9 new Foundation. 

10 (15) The Republic of Iraq has great national 

11 wealth, with proven oil reserves of at least 

12 110,000,000,000 barrels, second only to Saudi Ara13 bia, and 3 times those of the United States, and 

14 when its reserves are fully developed they may even 

15 exceed those of Saudi Arabia. 

16 (16) Other nations have not absolved Iraq of its 

17 state obligations under the Third Geneva Convention 

18 arising from the First Gulf War and other sources, 

19 and the torture and inhuman treatment of United 

20 States prisoners of war during the First Gulf War 

21 are, in any event, a ‘‘non-absolvable liability’’ of the 

22 state of Iraq. 

23 (17) Iraq has not accounted for one of the 

24 United States prisoners of war held by Iraq during 

25 the First Gulf War. 
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1 (18) In the Second Gulf War, Iraq is in viola2 tion of the Third Geneva Convention by subjecting 

3 United States prisoners of war to coerced propa4 ganda videotapes, and there are disturbing reports 

5 of the willful killing and mistreatment of United 

6 States prisoners of war by Iraq, violations con7 demned in Senate Concurrent Resolution 31, which 

8 passed on April 9, 2003, by a vote of 99–0, and in 

9 House Concurrent Resolution 118, which passed on 

10 March 27, 2003, by a vote of 419–0. 

11 (19) The United States has a critical national 

12 interest in ensuring the protection of United States 

13 prisoners of war, enhancing compliance with the 

14 Third Geneva Convention, and in taking immediate 

15 decisive action that could contribute to the protec16 tion of United States prisoners of war. 

17 SEC. 3. POLICY REGARDING PERSONS. 

18 (a) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States, 

19 in accordance with article 129 of the Third Geneva Con20 vention, to search out and try before its courts persons 

21 alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be com22 mitted, grave breaches of the Third Geneva Convention 

23 against United States prisoners of war, including willful 

24 killing, torture, and inhumane treatment. 
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1 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The United States will vig2 orously implement the policy set forth in subsection (a) 

3 toward those persons who have mistreated United States 

4 prisoners of war during the First and Second Gulf Wars, 

5 including those in the Iraqi Government who have ordered 

6 or carried out any such mistreatment. 

7 SEC. 4. POLICIES REGARDING COUNTRIES. 

8 (a) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States, 

9 in accordance with article 131 of the Third Geneva Con10 vention, to hold liable countries that commit grave 

11 breaches against United States prisoners of war, including 

12 willful killing, torture, and inhumane treatment. As a 

13 High Contracting Party to the Third Geneva Convention, 

14 the United States will not absolve such states of any such 

15 liability. 

16 (b) PAYMENT OF CLAIMS.—In carrying out the policy 

17 set forth in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury, 

18 at the request of the plaintiffs, shall pay from the Treas19 ury, in full, but in an amount not exceeding the sum of 

20 those blocked funds of Iraq and its agencies, instrumental21 ities, and controlled entities that were vested by Executive 

22 Order 13290 of March 20, 2003, for the purpose of assist23 ing in the reconstruction of Iraq, any judgment in Civil 

24 Action No. 02–0632 in the United States District Court 

25 for the District of Columbia brought by United States 
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1 prisoners of war and their family members against the Re2 public of Iraq, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and Saddam 

3 Hussein in his capacity as President of the Republic of 

4 Iraq, for the brutal torture of those United States pris5 oners of war during the First Gulf War. The United 

6 States shall be fully subrogated against the Republic of 

7 Iraq for payments made under this subsection. 

8 SEC. 5. POLICY WITH RESPECT TO PRISONERS OF WAR IN 

9 SECOND GULF WAR. 

10 If, following the Second Gulf War, it becomes evident 

11 that United States prisoners of war have been killed, tor12 tured, or mistreated during that war, or that the unac13 counted for United States prisoner of war from the First 

14 Gulf War was killed or tortured by Iraq, it shall be the 

15 policy of the United States to support the claims of those 

16 United States prisoners of war and their immediate family 

17 members against the Republic of Iraq, for resolution on 

18 the basis of the same policy as is set forth in section 4. 

19 SEC. 6. DEFINITION. 

20 In this Act, the term ‘‘Third Geneva Convention’’ 

21 means the Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the 

22 Treatment of Prisoners of War.

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