THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608290410
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 84 lines
Mike Cronin knows what it's like to be a voice crying in the wilderness.
At 25, as a Navy pilot, his A-4 jet was shot down over North Vietnam. He spent more than six grueling years in a prisoner of war camp.
Years later, Cronin tried to get backing for the prosecution of war criminals, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. The bureaucratic barbed wire of Washington seemed impenetrable.
Then Cronin met North Carolina Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., and the rookie congressman turned Cronin's idea into the War Crimes Act of 1996.
That was the first bill sponsored by Jones to become law, and the staunch conservative got support from some unusual allies.
Liberals in both the House and Senate - including Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. - backed Jones' bill.
``This wasn't about politics,'' Jones said. ``It was about doing the right thing.''
Until President Clinton signed Jones' bill into law last week, there were no provisions for U.S. courts to prosecute war criminals under the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Now, accused war criminals who are either arrested on U.S soil or who commit crimes against U.S. military personnel or civilians, can be prosecuted.
Cronin's campaign started when he discovered the legal loophole in 1990, as a later-in-life law student at Georgetown University.
After graduation, the former pilot went to work for the Allied Pilots Association.
``I spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill talking to congressmen and senators about issues that concerned the airline industry,'' Cronin said. ``And, after that, if they expressed interest in the fact that I had been a POW, I would talk to them about this other issue. Most of them - including a congressman and a senator who had been POWs - didn't believe me when I told them about the problem. Then I met Congressman Jones'' in April 1995.
Cronin's ``other issue'' piqued the interest of the 3rd District freshman, whose constituency includes Camp LeJeune, the Naval Air Station at Cherry Point, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and a number of other military installations.
``Congressman Jones was the first person to seem genuinely interested,'' Cronin said. ``I talked to a number of representatives and senators - including two former POWs - who just didn't believe that the issue existed. After we met at the reception, Jones invited me to his office, and then he took it from there.''
Jones said he read a report Cronin game him ``and submitted it to the House National Security Committee staff. After their review, they determined there were gaps in the law, and that the legislation was needed.''
Jones submitted the bill in 1995, but it was not formally introduced until April 1996.
``With all that was going on with the `Contract With America' and the effort to balance the budget, bills, especially those submitted by freshmen, can get lost in the shuffle,'' he said.
First-term lawmakers have a difficult time with bills they introduce. Statistics from the Congressional Research Service reveal that while some 4,800 bills were introduced during the 104th Congress, only 139 become law. Of those, only 12 were introduced by freshmen.
``It's a daunting task because so many times bills get put aside because of personal agendas that other people have,'' Jones said.
The Jones bill stalled shortly after introduction. Then it got a boost from Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, who held hearings on the measure. At those hearings, present and former officials of the Defense, State and Justice departments, former POWs and the International Red Cross testified in favor of the bill. The bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee and subsequently by the House. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. sponsored the Senate version.
Why did Jones listen to Cronin when so many others had turned deaf ears?
``I think because he has paid such a debt, and sacrificed six years of his life, it was the right and proper thing to do,'' Jones said. ``Because of Mike Cronin, those who commit crimes against American servicemen and civilians in the future will be prosecuted.''
Cronin said he at times wished that the law could be applied to those who punished him and his comrades in the prison camps.
``I've had that thought,'' said Cronin, who lives in suburban Washington. ``But remember, that was about 30 years ago. Most of the people who were in positions of authority are either dead or senile now. I won't reap the benefits of this law. This law will help Americans in the future.''
Jones said his reward came during Capitol Hill hearings on the bill.
``To see the look on Mike Cronin's face made all this worthwhile,'' he said. by CNB