News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Gulf War Asylum Bill S.1339

Date: August 26, 2001

S.1339
Sponsor: Sen Campbell, Ben Nighthorse(introduced 8/2/2001)
Latest Major Action: 8/2/2001 Referred to Senate committee
Title: A bill to amend the Bring Them Home Alive Act of 2000 to provide an asylum program with regard to American Persian Gulf War POW/MIAs, and for other purposes.

TITLE(S):  (italics indicate a title for a portion of a bill)

* SHORT TITLE(S) AS INTRODUCED:
Persian Gulf POW/MIA Accountability Act of 2001
* OFFICIAL TITLE AS INTRODUCED:
A bill to amend the Bring Them Home Alive Act of 2000 to provide an asylum program with regard to American Persian Gulf War POW/MIAs, and for other
STATUS: (color indicates Senate actions)

8/2/2001:
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

CONFIRMATIONS -- (Senate - August 02, 2001)

S. 1339. A bill to amend the Bring Them Home Alive Act of 2000 to provide an asylum program with regard to American Persian Gulf War POW/MIAs, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

[Page: S8760]

   Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, I am pleased to introduce the ``Persian Gulf War POW/MIA Accountability Act of 2001.'' This bill will help persuade foreign Nations and their inhabitants to take necessary and sometimes risky steps needed to return any surviving American POW/MIAs from the Persian Gulf War by providing asylum to those foreign nationals who cooperate.

   This bill builds on S. 484, the Bring Them Home Alive Act of 2000, which I introduced in the 106th Congress. This legislation was signed into law last November. As many of you know, this law provides for the granting of refugee status in the United States to nations of certain foreign countries in which American Vietnam War POW/MIAs or American Korean War POW/MIAs may be present.

   On January 17, 1991, Lieutenant Commander Michael Speicher's F-18 was shot down over Western Iraq during the first hours of the Persian Gulf War. Based on the accounts of other pilots flying in the mission and 12 hours of radio silence, Lieutenant Commander Speicher was declared Missing in Action, MIA, the next day. On May 22, 1991, his status was changed to Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered, KIA/BNR.

   In December 1995, investigators from the Army and Navy found the crash site of Lieutenant Commander Speicher's F-18. Located at the crash site were used flares and parts of a survival kit. Near the site, the canopy of the plane was found which would indicate that Lieutenant Commander Speicher ejected from his plane before it crashed. Based on this and other information, the Navy came to the conclusion that they could no longer assume that Lieutenant Commander Speicher was indeed KIA. On January 11, of this year, the Navy changed his official status from KIA/BNR back to MIA.

   News reports indicated one of the major breaks in this case was provided by an Iraqi defector. According to his information, during the first days of the war, he drove a downed American pilot to Baghdad. The pilot was alive and alert. This defector was able to pass two lie detector tests and pointed to Lieutenant Commander Speicher in a photo lineup.

   Under this legislation, if Lieutenant Commander Speicher were found alive and returned home, this defector and his family would be granted refugee status in the United States. As a veteran and a proud American, I will not rest until we have exhausted every avenue available to repatriate the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for the freedom we enjoy. This legislation provides the kinds of incentives we need to help bring American POW/MIAs home alive.

   I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

   There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S. 1339

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

   SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Persian Gulf War POW/MIA Accountability Act of 2001''.

   SEC. 2. AMERICAN PERSIAN GULF WAR POW/MIA ASYLUM PROGRAM.

    (a) ASYLUM PROGRAM.--The Bring Them Home Alive Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-484; 114 Stat. 2195; 8 U.S.C. 1157 note) is amended by inserting after section 3 the following new section:

   ``SEC. 3A. AMERICAN PERSIAN GULF WAR POW/MIA ASYLUM PROGRAM.

    ``(a) ASYLUM FOR ELIGIBLE ALIENS.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Attorney General shall grant refugee status in the United States to any alien described in subsection (b), upon the application of that alien.

    ``(b) ELIGIBILITY.--Refugee status shall be granted under subsection (a) to--

    ``(1) any alien who--

    ``(A) is a national of Iraq or a nation of the Greater Middle East Region (as determined by the Attorney General in consultation with the Secretary of State); and

    ``(B) personally delivers into the custody of the United States Government a living American Persian Gulf War POW/MIA; and

    ``(2) any parent, spouse, or child of an alien described in paragraph (1).

    ``(c) DEFINITIONS.--In this section:

    ``(1) AMERICAN PERSIAN GULF WAR POW/MIA.--

    ``(A) IN GENERAL.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the term `American Persian Gulf War POW/MIA' means an individual--

    ``(i) who is a member of a uniformed service (within the meaning of section 101(3) of title 37, United States Code) in a missing status (as defined in section 551(2) of such title and this subsection) as a result of the Persian Gulf War, or any successor conflict, operation, or action; or

    ``(ii) who is an employee (as defined in section 5561(2) of title 5, United States Code) in a missing status (as defined in section 5561(5) of such title) as a result of the Persian Gulf War, or any successor conflict, operation, or action.

    ``(B) EXCLUSION.--Such term does not include an individual with respect to whom it is officially determined under section 552(c) of title 37, United States Code, that such individual is officially absent from such individual's post of duty without authority.

    ``(2) MISSING STATUS.--The term `missing status', with respect to the Persian Gulf War, or any successor conflict, operation, or action, means the status of an individual as a result of the Persian Gulf War, or such conflict, operation, or action, if immediately before that status began the individual--

    ``(A) was performing service in Kuwait, Iraq, or another nation of the Greater Middle East Region; or

    ``(B) was performing service in the Greater Middle East Region in direct support of military operations in Kuwait or Iraq.

    ``(3) PERSIAN GULF WAR.--The term `Persian Gulf War' means the period beginning on August 2, 1990, and ending on the date thereafter prescribed by Presidential proclamation or by law.''.

    (b) BROADCASTING INFORMATION.--Section 4(a)(2) of that Act is amended--

    (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (A);

    (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting ``; and''; and

    (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

    ``(C) Iraq, Kuwait, or any other country of the Greater Middle East Region (as determined by the International Broadcasting Bureau in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State).''