[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 2, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3694-H3695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE OF CONDITIONS AT GUANTANAMO BAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I could not help but notice, as I am sure 
many of my colleagues who are in the Chamber this evening noticed, the 
remarks of the gentleman from Washington State just a few minutes ago, 
talking about what Amnesty International thinks. Well, I want to remind 
my colleagues that Amnesty International is about as objective as the 
gentleman from Washington State; and if be anybody feels disgust toward 
this President, it is because of the harping and carping of people like 
that who really do not care about this country. They want to believe 
the Saddam Husseins of the world and not the President and Commander in 
Chief of this great country.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening primarily to talk about----
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend.
  For what purpose does the gentleman from Washington rise?
  Mr. McDERMOTT. The gentleman was talking about me specifically, and I 
thought we would take his words down and see if they are appropriate.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the words.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my request.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman withdraws his request.
  The gentleman from Georgia may continue.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to talk a little bit 
about the situation in Baghdad at that Abu Ghraib prison and the 
reports of abuse by certain prison guards in one cell block.
  A lot of the media, Mr. Speaker, has been suggesting that the reason 
this occurred was because General Miller had come from Guantanamo Bay 
where, over 2 years ago, we set up that facility for the enemy 
combatants that were captured in Afghanistan to detain them and that 
General Miller went over to Baghdad to Iraq to Abu Ghraib to advise 
them on how to obtain intelligence, actionable intelligence from the 
detainees, and because of that advice, this so-called ``GTMO-izing'' 
the operation in Iraq, this is what led to the abuse, that these 
miscreant few in this one cell block were not responsible because they 
were just simply following orders.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, tonight I want to explain to my colleagues the 
opportunity that I had a week ago Tuesday to go to Guantanamo Bay, 
along with my colleague from the other side of the aisle, the gentleman 
from Florida. We were both asked to go by our chairman of the House 
Committee on Armed Services, the honorable gentleman from California 
(Mr. Hunter), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Skelton).
  So we had an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to go to Guantanamo Bay and 
see that operation firsthand. And I am proud, as I know and I feel very 
confident in listening to and talking with my colleague from Florida, 
that we did not see any abuse in Guantanamo Bay. We did not see any 
water torture. We did not see any use of dogs. We did not see any 
prisoner injury or abuse.
  Mr. Speaker, what we saw, rather, was a very well-conceived, well-
designed operation that included interrogation, yes, the obtaining of 
actionable intelligence in a humane way and in a very sophisticated 
way, and yet a detention facility that took into consideration the 
prayer activities of the detainees from Afghanistan. Indeed, in each 
and every cell, there was an arrow pointing to Mecca, to the east. 
There

[[Page H3695]]

were prayer beads, there were prayer caps, there was a Koran, and each 
of these detainees were treated in a very humane fashion.
  So I would say this to my colleagues, that, indeed, if we are ``GTMO-
izing'' the operation in Iraq, amen. That is what we need to do.

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