[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 11, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IRAQ ABUSES MAY GO UNPUNISHED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chocola). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I would ask you to suspend your emotions 
for a moment and look closely at the pictures from Iraq. The Americans 
appear to be dressed about the same, but there is one major difference. 
Some of the photos include U.S. soldiers and U.S. civilian contractors. 
In fact, in one photo the civilian contractors are turned away from the 
camera. Maybe they were trying to protect themselves. From what?
  Some of the U.S. soldiers involved will face a military court 
martial. The civilian contractors will not face a military court or an 
Iraqi court or an American court. Civilian contractors involved may not 
face any punishment thanks to the Pentagon.
  Secretary Rumsfeld outsourced the President's war. He outsourced the 
checks and balances. He outsourced the chain of command. He outsourced 
due process.
  The Pentagon wrote an order that specifically protects civilian 
contractors from prosecution in Iraq for crimes committed under the 
umbrella of official duties, and if a civilian contractor commits a 
crime while off duty in Iraq, U.S. Administrator Paul Bremer has to 
agree in writing to local prosecution. Does that sound like the United 
States? Is this the model of democracy we are trying to install in 
Iraq? Does this sound like adhering to the Geneva Convention?
  Last week, the Attorney General rushed to the microphones to tell 
America that he can prosecute civilians implicated in Iraqi crimes, but 
the Attorney General neglected to tell the American people that not a 
single FBI agent has been dispatched to Iraq to investigate. Not one. 
When two U.S. embassies were bombed in Africa during the Clinton 
administration, 900 FBI agents went to the scene. The Attorney General 
says he will wait until the Pentagon finishes its investigation. What 
is he waiting for?
  The International Red Cross has been sounding the alarm for over a 
year, but the administration and its war machine turned a deaf ear and 
a deaf eye to what was happening. Now the United States and every 
soldier is paying the price for benign neglect.
  Civilians were given authority to interrogate, clearly using any and 
all means. Civilians had some mission control over U.S. soldiers, and 
they exploited this control.
  Civilians were immune from local prosecution and immune from military 
chain of command. We know there has been torture and likely even 
murder; yet some soldiers were involved, but we cannot stop there and 
pretend that is the end of it.
  There are thousands of civilian contractors in Iraq. We owe it to 
every good and decent American soldier to get to the worst black mark 
in military history. We must know what role, secret or otherwise, the 
civilians were playing in the war. What else were they given besides 
protection? What secret orders are they carrying out? Who is 
accountable for the civilians? What assurances will the Iraqi people 
have that any civilian implicated will be brought to justice? How can 
we say that we stand for freedom if we let the criminals go free?
  The U.S. military told the administration before the war that 
hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed. The administration 
refused to listen. Instead, the administration deployed a hand-over 
strategy concerning Iraq. The administration handed over critical 
duties to people outside the military and then protected them.
  The administration keeps talking about handing over Iraq on June 30. 
They have already handed over to the wrong people. We need to get back 
in control of what is going on in Iraq. This administration has got to 
come clean on what those contractors were hired to do, by whom, and who 
supervises them.
  Are there bosses in Virginia that run those companies? Are they 
exempt, too? Is nobody responsible for the interrogations that went on 
in that prison or in the other prisons in Iraq?
  These are the questions that must be answered by this administration, 
and I am afraid that if Mr. Rumsfeld does not want to do it, he is 
going to have to go.




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