Senate rejects amnesty plan for insurgents who attack American soldiers

Media release

June 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate by a 79-19 vote today approved a strongly worded measure by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson urging the Iraqi government to reject any plan granting amnesty to persons who attack or kill U.S. forces.

Nelson’s measure calls on President Bush to immediately notify Iraq’s new government that the United States “strongly opposes granting amnesty to persons who have attacked members of the armed forces of the United States.”

The vote to enact the measure came after Nelson cited the latest incident involving attacks on U.S. troops. Published reports say the mutilated and booby-trapped bodies of two captured U.S. servicemen were found today south of Baghdad. The soldiers disappeared Friday after being ambushed at a checkpoint. An Iraqi-based group with ties to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the killings in a Web site posting.

“The Senate has made it clear we won’t tolerate pardoning those who harm our servicemen and women,” said Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who sponsored the anti-amnesty amendment with Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

The Senate’s action today comes in response to recent reports in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times that indicate the new Iraqi government is preparing a national reconciliation plan that could include granting pardons for those who attack U.S. troops.

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