IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 472
Expressing the sense of Congress that the apprehension, detention, and inter-
rogation of terrorists are fundamental elements in the successful prosecu-
tion of the Global War on Terrorism and the protection of the lives 
of United States citizens at home and abroad. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 14, 2004
Mr. HUNTER submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to 
the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the apprehension, 
detention, and interrogation of terrorists are fundamental 
elements in the successful prosecution of the Global War 
on Terrorism and the protection of the lives of United 
States citizens at home and abroad.
Whereas throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the people of the 
United States were brutally attacked again and again by 
deadly terrorist violence, as evidenced by the hundreds of 
American deaths in the Beirut and Lockerbie bombings, 
the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, the de-
struction of the Khobar Towers military barracks, the 
bombing of the American embassies in Kenya and Tan-
•HCON 472 IH 
zania, and the vicious attacks on the U.S.S. Cole in 
2000; 
Whereas terrorists became increasingly emboldened after each 
attack, culminating in the deadly attacks on the World 
Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, 
which killed thousands of innocent civilians, including 
women and children; 
Whereas terrorist attacks on the United States and United 
States citizens killed 2,792 Americans and wounded 220 
Americans between 1998 and 2003; 
Whereas since September 11, 2001, the citizens of the United 
States have remained the priority target of terrorist vio-
lence, with journalists and employees of nongovernmental 
organizations being held hostage, tortured, and decapi-
tated in the name of terror; 
Whereas the United States is engaged in a global war against 
terrorists who threaten the lives of citizens of the United 
States and the American way of life and in which the 
battlefield is the face of the entire planet; 
Whereas civilized states that engage in warfare undertake ob-
ligations as lawful combatants to wage war in certain 
ways, many of which increase the risk to combatants but 
are intended to protect noncombatants; 
Whereas the protections of international law are afforded to 
lawful combatants in exchange for accepting and adher-
ing to those obligations; 
Whereas the United States has embraced these laws and is 
waging the Global War on Terrorism in a manner con-
sistent with the traditional international laws of war and, 
in many cases, is going above and beyond the require-
ments of international law to protect civilians;
•HCON 472 IH 
Whereas terrorists are unlawful combatants by definition be-
cause they refuse to follow the law of war by targeting 
civilians, hiding among the civilian population, and failing 
to carry their arms openly; 
Whereas throughout the Global War on Terrorism, the inter-
rogation of detainees, whether they are lawful or unlawful 
combatants, has yielded valuable intelligence that has 
saved the lives of United States military personnel and 
United States citizens at home and abroad; 
Whereas the interrogation of detainees, whether they are law-
ful or unlawful combatants, has also provided highly val-
uable insights into the structure of terrorist organiza-
tions, their target selection process, and the identities of 
key operational and logistical personnel that were pre-
viously unknown to the United States intelligence com-
munity; 
Whereas the lawful interrogation of detainees, whether they 
are lawful or unlawful combatants, is consistent with the 
Constitution of the United States; 
Whereas the laws, policies, and orders of the United States 
and of the United States Armed Forces require that the 
interrogation of detainees be conducted in a manner that 
is humane and consistent with international law; 
Whereas the qualification training for a United States Navy 
SEAL includes a 120-hour period in which trainees are 
subjected to strenuous physical activity while only being 
allowed two, two-hour blocks of sleep, yet terrorists being 
interrogated at Guantanamo Bay may only have their 
sleep cycles adjusted and may not be subjected to sleep 
deprivation under the Secretary of Defense April 16, 
2004, guidance on interrogation techniques;
•HCON 472 IH 
Whereas personnel in the United States military routinely eat 
cold Meals Ready to Eat rather than hot meals and the 
Department of Defense recently declassified an April 16, 
2003, memo from the Secretary of Defense indicating 
that unlawful combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay 
could have their hot meals replaced by cold Meals Ready 
to Eat as a non-doctrinal interrogation technique; 
Whereas United States military personnel acting as lawful 
combatants who are captured by a foreign government 
honoring the Geneva Convention are not entitled to legal 
representation in that detaining nation’s civilian courts to 
contest their detention; 
Whereas responsible authorities in the Armed Forces have 
acted swiftly to identify, investigate, and punish those 
who violate the requirements of the laws, policies, and or-
ders of the United States regarding the treatment of de-
tainees, whether those detainees are lawful or unlawful 
combatants; 
Whereas the loss of interrogation-derived information would 
have a disastrous effect on the Nation’s intelligence col-
lection and counterterrorism efforts and would constitute 
a damaging reversal in the Global War on Terrorism at 
this critical time; 
Whereas some individuals detained by the United States in 
the Global War on Terrorism have been released, only to 
take up arms again against the United States and its al-
lies; 
Whereas the apprehension and detention of terrorists, and 
the interrogation of detainees, are essential elements to 
successfully waging the Global War on Terrorism; and
•HCON 472 IH 
Whereas the interrogation of detainees can and should con-
tinue by the United States within the bounds of the Con-
stitution and laws of the United States: Now, therefore, 
be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the conditions and techniques of training of 
United States military personnel are not inhumane; 
(2) persons detained in the Global War on Ter-
rorism are not entitled to privileges or treatment 
that are superior to those afforded to United States 
military personnel during the course of normal train-
ing operations; 
(3) terrorists, as unlawful combatants who ig-
nore the international law of war and purposely seek 
to kill American noncombatants, are a mortal enemy 
of the United States and all civilized nations; 
(4) the United States must continue to act to 
pursue individuals who violate the laws, orders, and 
policies requiring the humane treatment of persons 
detained in the Global War on Terrorism and to en-
sure that such laws, orders, and policies are not vio-
lated in the future; 
(5) all of the world’s governments should seek 
to eliminate terrorism as a practice by military, po-
litical, and judicial means;
•HCON 472 IH 
(6) the United States Government should con-
tinue to develop and apply processes to determine 
whether persons detained by it are lawful or unlaw-
ful combatants and whether they continue to con-
stitute a terrorist threat; 
(7) the apprehension, detention, and interroga-
tion of terrorists are fundamental elements in the 
successful prosecution of the Global War on Ter-
rorism and the protection of the lives of United 
States citizens at home and abroad; and 
(8) the overriding national priority in the Glob-
al War on Terrorism must be to win the war with 
the least loss of innocent life.
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