[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 67 (Thursday, May 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H3000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ABUSE OF IRAQI PRISONERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, we are all deeply troubled by the 
graphic pictures which show U.S. military service members humiliating, 
torturing and sexually abusing Iraqi prisoners. The reports that U.S. 
military police and intelligence personnel violated the most basic 
standards of moral conduct in addition to the established tenets of the 
Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war have 
ignited outrage within this country and throughout the rest of the 
world. This situation has tarnished America's reputation as a guardian 
of individual civil liberties and as a protector of human rights. While 
the vast majority of our soldiers are doing their duty with dignity and 
with honor, the grotesque abuses of Iraqi prisoners are truly un-
American. They go against everything our country stands for and holds 
dear. The images of these abuses are also a major setback in our war 
against terrorism. Our standing in the Arab world has been seriously 
undermined as a result of what happened at Abu Ghraib.
  As a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I have 
listened to the testimony and heard the explanations of the highest 
Pentagon leadership as to the abuses of Iraqi prisoners, but I am not 
convinced that these abuses are an isolated incident involving a few 
military members. The likelihood is that the lack of supervision that 
allowed them to occur may in fact be systemic, at least in some parts 
of the military intelligence and military police commands.
  This crisis must be immediately dealt with through a full-fledged 
investigation into the breakdown of military regulations and the 
possibility of widespread prison abuse. Furthermore, the individuals 
responsible for perpetrating the abuses as well as their commanding 
officers must be held accountable for criminal wrongdoing. I do believe 
that accountability, however, should extend considerably beyond the 
prosecution of a handful of aberrant military personnel, private 
contractors and their supervisors. Responsibility starts at the top.
  With the existence of additional photos and videos of Iraqi detainees 
still unreleased, it is likely that this crisis will not soon go away. 
The transfer of Iraqi sovereignty is set to occur on June 30. The Bush 
administration must drastically repair our standing in Iraq as well as 
with the rest of the world before we can responsibly extricate 
ourselves from this foreign policy blunder.
  I emphasize foreign policy as opposed to military policy. Our 
military accomplished their objective nearly flawlessly by liberating 
the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein's tyranny. But they were not 
prepared to be long-term occupiers. That should never be their role nor 
our national mission. The lack of a realistic exit strategy is one of 
the reasons that I so strongly opposed this preemptive and unilateral 
invasion.
  Mr. Speaker, our mission in Iraq is at a crossroads. Our soldiers are 
struggling to complete their missions without the proper training or 
resources or support. The barbaric murder of Nicholas Berg clearly 
demonstrates the depth of the resistance we face. The murder of 
Nicholas Berg was a monstrous act for which there is no justification. 
Our thoughts and our prayers are with his family. America's soldiers, 
in fact, are serving with honor. We stand behind our courageous men and 
women in uniform who are bearing the burden for this military action in 
Iraq, and we are deeply grateful for their patriotism, their courage 
and their sacrifice. But the security situation in Iraq has 
deteriorated rather than improved. Last month, we lost more soldiers in 
one month than at any time since the war began.
  Mr. Speaker, our military was sent into battle without the right 
equipment or the necessary support. Helicopter pilots have flown 
battlefield missions without the best available antimissile systems. 
According to a DOD commission report, roughly one-fourth of coalition 
deaths have occurred as a result of attacks on unarmored vehicles, 
because we do not have enough armored vehicles to go around. And our 
failure to forge a true coalition has forced thousands in the National 
Guard and Reserves to be away from their families and from their jobs 
for more than a year with no end in sight.
  Mr. Speaker, a failure to condemn what is wrong is a failure to 
recognize what is right. Recently, a former leader of the 372nd 
Military Police Company stated that minimizing the conduct of these MPs 
that were responsible for the prison abuse by comparing it to the 
reckless and violent acts of the Iraqi insurgents is wholly beside the 
point. We must compare our actions to those of the men and women who 
have honorably served this country. We have to stand up for our 
standard of decency that we have set for the rest of the world and 
stand up to the enemies of freedom.

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