00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 51                                                                                           
01 Requesting the governor to file suit in the United States Supreme Court against                                         
02 the United States government alleging violations of the civil rights of Americans                                       
03 listed as prisoners of war or missing in action in Southeast Asia; and requesting                                       
04 the other states to join in this suit.                                                                                  
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06  WHEREAS there is continuing controversy concerning Americans who were listed as                                        
07 Prisoners of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA) while serving in the Southeast Asian                                  
08 nations of Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuchea (formerly Cambodia); and                                                        
09  WHEREAS the United States government has taken the position that all of these                                          
10 POWs have been returned, although only 591 American POWs have been released under the                                   
11 1973 Peace Settlement; and                                                                                              
12  WHEREAS a Vietnamese report dating from 1972 by General Tran Von Kwong,                                                
13 Deputy Chief of Staff for the North Vietnamese, Army reported that in September of 1972                                 
14 Hanoi held 1,205 American prisoners, and Vietnamese nationals who have moved to the                                     

01 United States have reported the appearance of American prisoners still being held in Southeast                          
02 Asia; and                                                                                                               
03  WHEREAS the president of Russia let it be known that the Soviet Union took                                             
04 members of the American armed forces into Russia during the Vietnam War and that there                                  
05 is no adequate explanation of the whereabouts of these Americans; and                                                   
06  WHEREAS there are still hundreds of documents concerning this issue held by the                                        
07 United States Department of Defense that have not been released to the public, yet the federal                          
08 intelligence agencies have tried to discredit information concerning the existence of American                          
09 POWs instead of demanding a full accounting from Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuchea; and                                      
10  WHEREAS there are two missing and unaccounted for servicemen in Southeast Asia                                         
11 from Alaska; and                                                                                                        
12  WHEREAS the right to liberty--that inherent and inalienable right endowed by our                                       
13 Creator, as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United                            
14 States--is being denied to any American being held prisoner in Southeast Asia as a result of                            
15 the Vietnam War; and                                                                                                    
16  WHEREAS the executive branch of the federal government has not even attempted                                          
17 to negotiate the release of Americans that may still be held in Southeast Asia and is                                   
18 obstructing the search for remaining Americans; and                                                                     
19  WHEREAS the legislative branch of the federal government has failed miserably to                                       
20 thoroughly investigate and honestly report on this tragedy, and, indeed, has ordered the                                
21 destruction of staff documents containing intelligence reports on this sensitive issue; and                             
22  WHEREAS the inferior courts of the federal judiciary have not granted relief; and                                      
23  WHEREAS the United States Constitution in art. III, sec. 2, states, "In all Cases                                      
24 affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Counsels and those in which a State shall                             
25 be a Party, the Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction.";                                                       
26  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                             
27 governor to authorize suit in the United States Supreme Court against the United States                                 
28 government, especially the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies, and against                             
29 the ambassadors or other public ministers and counsels of the governments of Vietnam, Laos,                             
30 Kampuchea, Russia, and China, alleging violations of the civil rights of the people of Alaska,                          
31 and especially alleging the violation of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness                       

01 of Thomas E. Andersson, USMC, and Howard M. Koslosky, USN; and be it                                                    
02  FURTHER RESOLVED that the suit demand that the Department of Defense, the                                              
03 intelligence agencies, and the governments of Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Russia, and China                               
04 be ordered to turn over all documents concerning Americans listed as POWs or MIAs as a                                  
05 result of the Vietnam War; and be it                                                                                    
06  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                           
07 other 49 states of the United States to join in this action on behalf of their citizens being held                      
08 in captivity in Southeast Asia.                                                                                         
09  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
10 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Vice-President of the United States and President of                              
11 the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Robert C. Byrd, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate;                                
12 to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                  
13 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress;                                 
14 and to the governors and the presiding officers of the houses of the legislatures of each of our                        
15 sister states.