Washington, Jul 22, 2003 -

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PRESS RELEASE
OFFICE OF REP. DANA ROHRABACHER
22 July 2003
For Immediate Release

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46) successfully amended the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations (H.R. 2799) bill to prevent the State Department from blocking lawsuits against Japanese corporations that used American servicemen for slave labor during the Second World War. Rohrabacher’s amendment would help rectify the injustice done to American soldiers who, after surviving the brutalities of the Bataan Death March were taken in ‘death ships’ to Japan and forced into servitude. Like survivors of the Holocaust, survivors of the Bataan Death March have sought recompense for their suffering at the hands of a tyrannical government. Unfortunately, all forms of redress have been thwarted by the State Department at the behest of the Government of Japan. If enacted into law, Rohrabacher’s amendment would, in effect, allow lawsuits to go forward against Japanese corporations that used American military men as slaves. “We must stand up today and send a message that this kind of behavior is not acceptable! We must back the rights of some of America’s greatest heroes,” Rohrabacher said.