[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 364 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 364
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22, 2004
Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To recognize more than 5 decades of strategic partnership between the
United States and the people of the Marshall Islands in the pursuit of
international peace and security, and for other purposes.
Whereas on November 20, 2003, Congress, recognizing our Nation's historical
responsibilities over the Former Trust Territory of the Marshall Islands
and its successful transition from Trust Territory status to full
independence in free association with the United States beginning in
1986, approved the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act, which was
signed into law by President Bush on December 17, 2003, becoming Public
Law Number 108-188;
Whereas the Compact of Free Association, as amended by Public Law 108-188,
embodies and extends the close political, economic, and social
partnership, as well as the strategic mutual security alliance, between
the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the United States under the
terms of the bilateral association between our nations;
Whereas this partnership for peace and alliance for the security of our nations
and the world began in 1944, when the heroic armed forces of the United
States and its allies, with the courageous assistance of the people of
the Marshall Islands at the risk of their own safety, liberated the
Marshall Islands from Japanese military occupation;
Whereas the friendship and cooperation between the United States and the people
of the Marshall Islands that began during World War II continued during
the next 4 decades, during which the United States exercised powers of
government in the Marshall Islands under a Trusteeship Agreement with
the United Nations;
Whereas during the Marshall Islands trusteeship era the aim of the United States
was to promote international peace and security through its nuclear
weapons testing program which was viewed as a critical element to the
success of United States global leadership during the Cold War;
Whereas the United States testing program conducted in the Marshall Islands and
the strategy of nuclear deterrence sustained by the United States and
its allies, was carried out in the hope that understanding its
destructive power would be the strategy for which we could arm the world
with reasons for peace among nations;
Whereas from 1946 to 1958 the United States detonated 67 atmospheric nuclear
weapons in the Marshall Islands, representing nearly 80 percent of all
the atmospheric tests ever conducted by the United States, and enabling
atmospheric tests in the continental United States to be terminated and
relocated at the greatest possible distance from large cities and
densely populated areas;
Whereas on March 1, 1954, the hydrogen weapons test code-named Bravo yielded
explosive power approximately 1,000 times greater than the weapon used
in the 1945 wartime nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan;
Whereas the Bravo test created a mushroom cloud 25 miles in diameter, and
produced a crater 6,000 feet in diameter, vaporizing 6 islands at the
Bikini Atoll;
Whereas the Bravo test and the 12 year nuclear testing program has been the
defining experience of the modern era for the people of the Marshall
Islands, and these momentous events created a common bond between the
people of the Marshall Islands and the United States military and
civilian personnel who shared hardships and suffering with the people of
the Marshall Islands during the testing program, as well as the United
States citizens in areas affected by the mainland testing programs and
weapons production industry;
Whereas the people of the Marshall Islands, having learned first hand the
dangers of nuclear weapons, freely chose in United Nations observed acts
of self-determination in 1982 to enter into the Compact of Free
Association in order to become a sovereign nation allied more closely
with the United Sates than any other nation under any other alliance;
Whereas from the time of choosing self-determination, the Marshall Islands
worked closely with Congress and the executive branch to bring about a
strong understanding of the unique relationship between their islands
and the other United States insular areas;
Whereas the United States nuclear testing program put the people of these remote
islands on the front line in the Cold War struggle to preserve
international peace, promote nuclear disarmament, support nuclear
nonproliferation, and provide facilities critical to the development by
the United States of a deployable missile defense system to reduce the
risks of nuclear missile attacks; and
Whereas as a member state in the United Nations, the world body that once had
oversight of United States stewardship of the trusteeship for the people
of the Marshall Islands and their island homelands, the Republic of the
Marshall Islands has an unmatched record of working in conjunction with
the leadership of the United States in the pursuit of international
peace and security, the rights and well-being of the peoples of the
world, and in the War on Terrorism: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress recognizes as an historic achievement of friendship more
than 5 decades of strategic partnership between the United States and
the people of the Marshall Islands in pursuit of international peace
and security, and recognizes with solemn regard for the cost of
preserving peace, the importance of the nuclear weapon test code-named
Bravo at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954.
Passed the House of Representatives March 18, 2004.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.