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 fol-
lowing 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 consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the payment of claims of United States pris-
oners of war in the First Gulf War, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prisoner of War Pro-
tection Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The mistreatment of prisoners of war of the 
United States has been a serious recurring problem 
in war after war, and is of immediate concern to the 
Nation. 
(2) The United States takes great pride in the 
protection of its service men and women, and finds 
intolerable the recurring pattern of mistreatment of 
its prisoners of war. 
(3) The Third Geneva Convention mandates 
that prisoners of war must at all times be treated 
humanely, and that the willful killing, torture, or in-
human treatment or willfully causing great suffering 
or serious injury to body or health are ‘‘grave 
breaches’’ of the Convention. 
(4) Article 129 of the Third Geneva Convention 
mandates that ‘‘Each High Contracting Party shall 
be under the obligation to search for persons alleged 
to have committed, or to have ordered to be com-
mitted . . . grave breaches, and shall bring such per-
sons, regardless of their nationality, before its own 
courts.’’. 
(5) Article 131 of the Third Geneva Convention 
provides that ‘‘No High Contracting Party shall be 
allowed to absolve itself or any other High Con-
tracting Party of any liability incurred by itself or
by another High Contracting Party in respect of 
[grave] breaches . . .’’. 
(6) Both the United States and the Republic of 
Iraq are High Contracting Parties to the Third Ge-
neva Convention, and more than 170 countries, as 
state parties to the convention, have assumed its ob-
ligations. 
(7) The Third Geneva Convention mandates 
that prisoners of war ‘‘must at all times be protected 
. . . against insults and public curiosity’’; the Iraqi 
practice in both the First and Second Gulf Wars of 
subjecting United States prisoners of war to coerced 
propaganda videotapes is therefore a violation of the 
Convention. 
(8) During the First Gulf War, the House of 
Representatives, in response to the propaganda vid-
eotapes, passed House Concurrent Resolution 48 on 
January 23, 1991, by a vote of 418–0, condemning 
‘‘the flagrant and deliberate violations’’ by Iraq re-
sulting in the brutal torture and inhumane treat-
ment of United States prisoners of war during that 
war, and the Senate, also in response to the patent 
abuse of the prisoners of war, passed Senate Con-
current Resolution 5 on January 24, 1991, by a vote 
of 99–0, demanding that ‘‘Iraq abide by the prin-
ciples and the obligations of the Third Geneva Con-
vention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war 
. . . .’’ and condemning Iraq’s failure to do so; sub-
sequently, Iraq ignored these resolutions of the Con-
gress and continued to brutally mistreat United 
States prisoners of war. 
(9) Seventeen United States prisoners of war 
from the First Gulf War and 37 of their family 
members have brought an historic action in the 
United States District Court for the District of Co-
lumbia against the Republic of Iraq, the Iraqi Intel-
ligence Service, and Saddam Hussein in his capacity 
as President of the Republic of Iraq, for the brutal 
torture of the prisoners of war while held by Iraq 
during the First Gulf War. In this action—
(A) an entry of default was entered against 
defendants on September 25, 2002; and 
(B) the factual and legal submissions for a 
judgment by the court, including detailed sworn 
affidavits as to Iraq’s brutal torture, were sub-
mitted to the court on March 31, 2003. 
Those sworn affidavits show shocking brutality di-
rected against the United States prisoners of war by 
Iraq.
(10) The Congress determined, in enacting sec-
tion 1605(a)(7) of title 28, United States Code, per-
mitting suit against terrorist states for personal in-
jury or death caused by an act of torture, which was 
the legal basis for this historic action against Iraq 
by the tortured United States prisoners of war, that 
substantial civil damages are an important addi-
tional deterrent against such acts of torture directed 
against nationals of the United States. 
(11) The Republic of Iraq and its agencies, in-
strumentalities, and controlled entities had approxi-
mately $1,730,000,000 in blocked assets in the 
United States at the start of the Second Gulf War. 
(12) Those assets were vested by the Executive 
Order 13290 of March 20, 2003, for the purpose of 
assisting in the reconstruction of Iraq. 
(13) 
Approximately 
$300,000,000 
of 
the 
blocked assets were initially set aside for the satis-
faction of civil judgments obtained by United States 
hostages held in Iraq during the First Gulf War, but 
no amount of the blocked assets was set aside for 
those plaintiffs who were United States prisoners of 
war and who, at that time, already had an entry of 
default against Iraq.