[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2629-H2630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PRISONERS IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, we are all shocked, saddened, and outraged 
by recent reports of the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
The evidence cannot be in dispute. Graphic photos have gone from one 
end of the earth to the other that show stripped young Iraqi men forced 
to lie in a naked pile with a male and female soldier standing over 
them and hamming for the camera. Whether we like it or not, the

[[Page H2630]]

picture of a hooded, wired prisoner, which one commentator described as 
an eerie throwback to drawings from the Spanish Inquisition, has become 
the new image of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
  And this hooded image may be one of the kinder and gentler images to 
have yet seen the light of day. A highly critical report completed by 
the Pentagon in March paints a much more graphic and disturbing picture 
of prisoner abuse. The report outlines a number of intentional abuses, 
and I will quote partly from it: ``videotaping and photographing naked 
male and female detainees; forcibly arranging detainees in various 
sexually explicit positions for photographing,'' and ``a male MP guard 
having sex with a female detainee; sodomizing a detainee with a 
chemical light and perhaps a broomstick; and threatening male detainees 
with rape.''
  Yes, we are all sickened and outraged by the photos and the reports. 
The President, his cabinet, military leaders, and the Secretary of 
Defense have all lined up to say that this is not what America is 
about; it is just the unfortunate handiwork of a few bad apples, and 
they will be held accountable for their actions. Perhaps. But as Philip 
Kennicott writes in today's Washington Post: ``These photos show us 
what we may become as occupation continues, anger and resentment grows 
and costs spiral. There's nothing surprising in this. These pictures 
are pictures of colonial behavior, the demeaning of occupied people, 
the insult to local tradition, the humiliation of the vanquished.''
  Should it be surprising, however, that these events have occurred 
under the watchful eye of an administration that prizes secrecy and 
loyalty above all else?
  Mr. Speaker, the prisoner abuse scandal demonstrates that the United 
States is on the precipice of a major foreign policy disaster. Our 
standing in the world has been lowered to the point that the United 
States has been isolated in the court of world opinion. President 
Mubarak has stated unequivocally that the United States is the most 
hated Nation in the Middle East. Ouch, that hurts. And sadly, even in 
other parts of the world, we are no longer viewed as peacemakers but 
instead as the principal threat to world peace.
  To date, the war has cost the taxpayers over $150 billion. Now we are 
being told that the war will cost more and that 135,000 U.S. troops 
will remain in Iraq through 2005. Billions of dollars have been spent 
to enrich private corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel. Private 
contractors are running around even interrogating prisoners with what 
appears to be less than optimal supervision. Congress has failed thus 
far to exercise its proper oversight of the war. What additional 
scandals and outrages are lurking just around the corner?
  Mr. Speaker, now is the time to change course in Iraq. The principal 
architects of the war in Iraq, Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary 
Wolfowitz, have presided over a failed policy. It is past due time for 
them to leave their posts and submit their resignations. The security, 
safety, and prestige of our Nation is at stake, and we will not win the 
hearts and the minds of Iraqis, the Arabs, and the rest of the world 
with blood in the sand.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. WATSON. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I simply would like to say that while I 
disagree with the final conclusion that the gentlewoman has just drawn, 
the outrage that she began stating in her comments is outrage with 
which we totally agree; and we have been working over the last couple 
of days since this news came out to bring forward what we hope will be 
a bipartisan resolution from this House tomorrow. We are going to be 
meeting, it appears now, possibly early in the morning in the Committee 
on Rules to report out a resolution which will state our strong 
condemnation of the actions that we have seen taking place in the 
treatment of these Iraqi prisoners.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding me time so I could 
clarify this.

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