Chairman Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
February 10, 1994
Today, the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific continues its hearings on the questions surrounding our missing servicemen in Southeast Asia.
Now that President Clinton has decided to lift the trade embargo on Vietnam we must immediately move to ensure that Hanoi does not interpret this action to mean it is off the hook on providing a full accounting of our missing Vietnam War Heroes.
As we enter this new phase of our relationship with Hanoi, I urge the Administration in the strongest possible terms to remind the Vietnamese at every opportunity that we expect a full accounting of our POWs and MIAs. Indeed, we will be satisfied with NOTHING LESS.
Let me reassure the families and friends of those who are missing that they should not for one moment think that the U.S. Congress has written them off or forgotten about them or their loved ones. To the contrary, we must use our expanded presence in Vietnam to pursue this issue with renewed vigor.
I would emphasize that the lifting of the trade embargo should not be confused with the normalization of diplomatic relations. Before we contemplate that step, there must be a far more forthright response from Hanoi on the POW/ MIA issue than we have had over the past 19 years.
When congress returns the week after Next, I will introduce a resolution into the house of Representatives that reiterates our determination to secure a full accounting for each and every one of our missing men, and that calls for the establishment of an office within the U.S. interests section in Hanoi that will be available to assist the families of our POWs and MIAs. I invite all my colleagues to be original co-sponsors of this resolution.
I am confidant that we will receive widespread, bipartisan support for this effort to remind Hanoi that we will not rest until the fates of all our men are known.
103rd Congress 2d Session H.CON. RES. In the House of Representatives
Mr.Ackerman submitted the following concurrent resolution which was referred to the Committee on
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION:
Expressing the sense of Congress that progress towards the "fullest possible accounting" for the Americans missing in action must remain central to our foreign policy toward Vietnam.
Whereas the President has lifted the 30-year-old trade embargo against Vietnam in the belief that doing so if the "best way" to ensure progress in resolving the fate of servicemen missing since the conflict in Vietnam;
Whereas the Vietnam conflict and its aftermath was one of the most distressing and painful periods in our Nation's history;
Whereas questions remain about the fate of several hundred Americans missing in action;
Whereas on July 2, 1993, President Clinton stated that further steps in United States-Vietnam relations would be based on "tangible progress" toward the fullest possible accounting of those missing in action;
Whereas such "tangible progress" refers to the 4 specific areas of discrepancy cases, live sightings, repatriation of American remains, and provision of documents related to missing Americans;
Whereas since the President's July 2 statement, 39 remains have been repatriated, bring the 1993 total to 67 which is more than twice the number repatraited in 1992 and the third highest number for a single year since the end of the conflict;
Whereas on February 7, 1994, 4 days after the President's decision to lift the embargo, the Government of Vietnam released 12 sets of remains for repatriation to the United States;
Whereas the Congress deeply empathizes with the families and friends of the missing American servicemen: and
Whereas we owe nothing less that the "fullest possible accounting" to these men and their families: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (The Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that ---
(1) progress towards the "fullest possible accounting" for the Americans missing in action must remain central to our Nation's foreign policy toward Vietnam;
(2) the "fullest possible accounting" of our missing servicemen must remain the index by which further progress in relations must be judged; and
(3) the primary functions of the United States Government liaison officer in Vietnam should be ---
(A) to facilitate the efforts of Joint Task Force Full Accounting, and
(B) to establish a section within that office to assist families and friends of those missing American servicemen in their efforts to ascertain the status of their loved ones.