July 14, 1970
Page 24116
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 74 – SUBMISSION OF A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO AFFECT THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS IN VIETNAM
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the recent report by Congressmen ANDERSON and HAWKINS on the apparently savage treatment of political prisoners in South Vietnam's Con Son prison is most disturbing.
I recognize that prison conditions in another country are not, by themselves, our usual concern – especially since our own penal system is itself in substantial need of reform.
However, the situation in South Vietnam must concern us. Supposedly, we have been fighting there in an attempt to insure freedom of political choice for the people of South Vietnam, whatever that choice may be.
Yet, the Thieu-Ky regime, which we have been supporting, continues to hound and jail its political opponents, whether Communists or non-Communists. And the hundreds of millions of dollars of direct economic aid, which we have been furnishing to the present government, has apparently been used in part to keep political prisoners in long and brutal confinement.
If the Thieu-Ky regime continues to deal with domestic political opposition in such ugly terms, the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Vietnam are very remote. Indeed, no negotiated settlement could provide any real assurance against an eventual bloodbath between warring political factions in South Vietnam, for the simple fact that repression begets violence is as true in Southeast Asia as anywhere else.
Certainly, no amount of economic or military aid to the Thieu-Ky regime, without its own clear and demonstrated commitment to political and economic reform, can make it any more worthy of our confidence or our respect. It may well be that the greater our support – whether in the form of troops, military hardware, or dollars – the less incentive South Vietnamese government officials have to set their own house in order.
That is why it is imperative that the United States not continue to allow our commitment to be measured in inverse proportion to the performance of the South Vietnamese themselves. We must not allow our initiatives for peace in Paris to be prematurely stunted by the wishes of the present South Vietnamese government. And we cannot, in good conscience, let the pace of our withdrawals from Indochina be dictated by anyone but ourselves.
Mr. President; yesterday Congressmen WILLIAM ANDERSON and AUGUSTUS HAWKINS submitted House Concurrent Resolution 677, which addresses itself to the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners in South Vietnam and calls upon the Governments of the United States; South Vietnam, and North Vietnam to take immediate steps to provide humane and fair treatment of all prisoners. I commend the efforts of these two Congressmen and am pleased to submit this resolution in the Senate today on behalf of myself and Senators MANSFIELD, SYMINGTON, COOK, EAGLETON, GOODELL, HART, HOLLINGS, JACKSON, KENNEDY, McGovERN, MCINTYRE, MONDALE, RIBICOFF, WILLIAMS of New Jersey, and YOUNG of Ohio, I hope that other Senators will be interested in cosponsoring the resolution with me.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this resolution appear in the RECORD at this point.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. CASE). The concurrent resolution will be received and appropriately referred, and, without objection, the concurrent resolution will be printed in the RECORD.
The concurrent resolution (S. Con; Res. 74) to affect the treatment of prisoners in Vietnam, was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S. CON. RES. 74
Whereas members of the House Select Committee on United States Involvement in Southeast Asia have observed and reported cruel and inhumane treatment of civilian political prisoners in a tiger cage area at Con Son National Prison in South Vietnam and widespread malnutrition and disease throughout that prison; and
Whereas similar or more severe conditions of treatment may exist at other sections of Con Son National Prison and at other national prisons administered by the Government of South Vietnam; and
Whereas the United States through the United States Agency for International Development has become involved in the South Vietnamese National Prison System through the services of United States advisory personnel and the spending of several millions of dollars in an effort to improve that system; and
Whereas the United States Agency for International Development having negligently failed to take within its sphere of observation and attention areas such as the tiger cages where cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners exists; and
Whereas the chairman of the Interior Committee of the lower house of the South Vietnamese Assembly estimates that thousands of Vietnamese civilians are being held in prison without trial; and
Whereas a 1968 administrative decree of the Government of South Vietnam known as An Tri permits a citizen to be held for two years without trial and provides for renewals of periods of pretrial confinement; and
Whereas such system of justice is certain to result in confinement of innocent non-Communist persons and to otherwise be counterproductive of achieving self-determination of government in South Vietnam and peace throughout Vietnam; and
Whereas more than three hundred eighty-five thousand Americans have been killed, maimed, or otherwise wounded, and the United States has devoted a vast quantity of its material resources to help achieve and sustain self-determination of government in South Vietnam and peace throughout Vietnam; and
Whereas the United States has spent abundantly of its resources and has otherwise taken all requisite steps to assure with certainty that prisoner of war camps in South Vietnam are models of the conditions of treatment specified in the Geneva Convention of 1949 and has insisted that such camps be freely open to independent international inspection; and
Whereas the Government of North Vietnam and its allies have steadfastly refused to permit impartial inspections of prisoner of war facilities in which American prisoners of war are held,
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress (1) condemns the cruel and inhumane treatment and conditions of confinement of large numbers of political prisoners held in South Vietnam;
(2) urges the Government of South Vietnam immediately to (A) cease cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners, (B) take all steps practical to adequately cope with widespread malnutrition and disease within its civilian prisons, (C) re-examine and reform its system, and practice of justice, (D) bring all prisoners, political and otherwise, who have not been tried to a prompt and fair trial, and (E) release the innocent, including those whose only offenses have been to peaceably speak out against the current Government of South Vietnam and in behalf of peace in Vietnam;
(3) characterizes the civilian prison assistance program carried out in South Vietnam by the United States Agency for International Development as (A) ineffectual, (B) counterproductive of the goals the United States seeks in Southeast Asia, and (C) in need of immediate investigation;
(4) urges inspection of all prisoner of war facilities, humane care, attendance to dietary and health care needs, free exchange of mail and packages between families and prisoners, and the prompt, exchange of American and allied prisoners of war held by North Vietnam and its allies with prisoners of war held in South Vietnam with priority of release given to sick or injured prisoners, and those who have endured long periods of confinement.