IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 78

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 16, 1998

Referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas the International Military Tribunal at Nurenberg

was convened to try individuals for crimes against international law committed during World War II;

Whereas the Nuremberg tribunal provision which stated that

‘‘crimes against international law are committed by men,

not be abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced’’ is as valid today as it was in

1946;

Whereas, on August 2, 1990, without provocation, Iraq initiated a war of aggression against the sovereign state of

Kuwait;

Whereas the Charter of the United Nations imposes on its

members the obligations to ‘‘refrain in their international

relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state’’;
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Whereas the leaders of the Government of Iraq, a country

which is a member of the United Nations, did violate this

provision of the United Nations Charter;

Whereas the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of

Civilian Persons in Times of War (the Fourth Geneva

Convention) imposes certain obligations upon a belligerent State, occupying another country by force of arms,

in order to protect the civilian population of the occupied

territory from some of the ravages of the conflict;

Whereas both Iraq and Kuwait are parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention;

Whereas the public testimony of witnesses and victims has indicated that Iraqi officials violated Article 27 of the

Fourth Geneva Convention by their inhumane treatment

and acts of violence against the Kuwaiti civilian population;

Whereas the public testimony of witnesses and victims has indicated that Iraqi officials violated Articles 31 and 32 of

the Fourth Geneva Convention by subjecting Kuwaiti civilians to physical coercion, suffering and extermination

in order to obtain information;

Whereas in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, from

January 18, 1991, to February 25, 1991, Iraq did fire

39 missiles on Israel in 18 separate attacks with the intent of making it a party to war and with the intent of

killing or injuring innocent civilians, killing 2 persons directly, killing 12 people indirectly (through heart attacks,

improper use of gas masks, choking), and injuring more

than 200 persons;
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Whereas Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states

that persons committing ‘‘grave breaches’’ are to be apprehended and subjected to trial;

Whereas, on several occasions, the United Nations Security

Council has found Iraq’s treatment of Kuwaiti civilians

to be in violation of international humanitarian law;

Whereas, in Resolution 665, adopted on August 25, 1990, the

United Nations Security Council deplored ‘‘the loss of innocent life stemming from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait’’;

Whereas, in Resolution 670, adopted by the United Nations

Security Council on September 25, 1990, it condemned

further ‘‘the treatment by Iraqi forces on Kuwait nationals and reaffirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention

applied to Kuwait’’;

Whereas, in Resolution 674, adopted by the United Nations

Security Council on October 29, 1990, the Council demanded that Iraq cease mistreating and oppressing Kuwaiti nationals in violation of the Convention and reminded Iraq that it would be liable for any damage or

injury suffered by Kuwaiti nationals due to Iraq’s invasion and illegal occupation;

Whereas Iraq is a party to the Prisoners of War Convention

and there is evidence and testimony that during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq violated articles of the Convention by

its physical and psychological abuse of military and civilian POW’s including members of the international press;

Whereas Iraq has committed deliberate and calculated crimes

of environmental terrorism, inflicting grave risk to the

health and well-being of innocent civilians in the region

by its willful ignition of over 700 Kuwaiti oil wells in

January and February, 1991;
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Whereas President Clinton found ‘‘compelling evidence’’ that

the Iraqi Intelligence Service directed and pursued an operation to assassinate former President George Bush in

April 1993 when he visited Kuwait;

Whereas Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi officials have systematically attempted to destroy the Kurdish population

in Iraq through the use of chemical weapons against civilian Kurds, campaigns in 1987–88 which resulted in the

disappearance of more than 150,000 persons and the destruction of more than 4,000 villages, the placement of

more than 10 million landmines in Iraqi Kurdistan, and

ethnic cleansing in the city of Kirkuk;

Whereas the Republic of Iraq is a signatory to international

agreements including the Universal Declaration on

Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and

Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the POW

Convention, and is obligated to comply with these international agreements;

Whereas paragraph 8 of Resolution 687 of the United Nations Security Council, adopted on April 8, 1991, requires Iraq to ‘‘unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or rendering harmless, under international supervision of all chemical and biological weapons and all

stocks of agents and all related subsystems and components and all research, development, support, and manufacturing facilities;

Whereas Saddam Hussein and the Republic of Iraq have persistently and flagrantly violated the terms of Resolution

687 with respect to elimination of weapons of mass destruction and inspections by international supervisors;
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Whereas there is good reason to believe that Iraq continues

to have stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions,

missiles capable of transporting such agents, and the capacity to produce such weapons of mass destruction, putting the international community at risk;

Whereas, on February 22, 1993, the United Nations Security

Council adopted Resolution 808 establishing an international tribunal to try individuals accused of violations

of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia;

Whereas, on November 8, 1994, the United Nations Security

Council adopted Resolution 955 establishing an international tribunal to try individuals accused of the commission of violations of international humanitarian law in

Rwanda;

Whereas more than 70 individuals have been indicted by the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague for war crimes and crimes against

humanity in the former Yugoslavia, leading in the first

trial to the sentencing of a Serb jailer to 20 years in prison;

Whereas the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has

indicted 31 individuals, with three trials occurring at

present and 27 individuals in custody;

Whereas the United States has to date spent more than

$24,000,000 for the International Criminal Tribunal for

the Former Yugoslavia and more than $20,000,000 for

the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda;

Whereas officials such as former President George Bush,

Vice President Al Gore, General Norman Schwarzkopf
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and others have labeled Saddam Hussein a war criminal

and called for his indictment; and

Whereas a failure to try and punish leaders and other persons for crimes against international law establishes a

dangerous precedent and negatively impacts the value of

deterrence to future illegal acts: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring), That the President should—

3 (1) call for the creation of a commission under

4 the auspices of the United Nations to establish an

5 international record of the criminal culpability of

6 Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi officials;

7 (2) call for the United Nations to form an

8 international criminal tribunal for the purpose of in9 dicting, prosecuting, and imprisoning Saddam Hus10 sein and any other Iraqi officials who may be found

11 responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide,

12 and other violations of international humanitarian

13 law; and

14 (3) upon the creation of a commission and

15 international criminal tribunal, take steps necessary,

16 including the reprogramming of funds, to ensure

17 United States support for efforts to bring Saddam

18 Hussein and other Iraqi officials to justice.

Passed the Senate March 13, 1998.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.