[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ABUSE OF IRAQI PRISONERS

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I share the sense of outrage and disgust 
that has been expressed by so many Americans since the allegations and 
horrifying pictures of deeply troubling abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison 
in Iraq have come to light.
  I am particularly sickened by the damage that has been done to the 
brave men and women of the United States military. The depraved acts of 
a few risk tarnishing the reputation of hundreds of thousands of 
American servicemen and women who behave honorably every day, even in 
extraordinarily difficult circumstances. These acts also put our troops 
at risk, by casting them in the role of abusers, making it more 
difficult to gain the trust and cooperation of Iraqis. Anytime the 
Geneva Convention is violated, the framework of basic standards on 
which all military personnel and their families depend is weakened.
  I am also troubled by the irreparable damage done to American power. 
Our power does not come only from military might or economic muscle. We 
also derive power from what we stand for. Our commitment to basic human 
rights, to human dignity, and to the rule of law gives us power to 
persuade and to lead and to inspire. When this commitment is called 
into question, American power is diminished, and this is a terrible 
loss.
  Now that these appalling acts have been exposed and reported around 
the world, we must proceed to show the world something else--that our 
military, our political system, and our society do not condone this 
behavior, that we are capable of a full and transparent accounting for 
what has happened and how it has happened, that we will take action to 
correct the failures in the system, and that we are committed to 
addressing these abuses through the rule of law.

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