[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 82 (Tuesday, June 15, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H4145-H4146]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ABUSE OF POWER BY SECRETARY RUMSFELD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr.

[[Page H4146]]

McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the abuse of Iraqi prisoners began with 
an abuse of power by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld. Justice 
will be served in Iraq only when America accepts responsibility for the 
prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib and fires Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
  Secretary Rumsfeld and the administration can deny all they want, but 
the truth will not be denied. White House lawyers wrote memos about it. 
They tortured the English language until the President and the top 
civilians at the Pentagon were satisfied they could do whatever they 
wanted, manipulate the data, make it seem like truth. That has been the 
administration's approach in Iraq.
  Secretary Rumsfeld pretended the Geneva Convention did not exist. 
Apparently it had too many constraints, like humane treatment of 
prisoners. Rumsfeld himself approved interrogation practices they are 
now trying to cover up by classifying them as secret.
  Rumsfeld thought the world would never know. Mr. Nixon thought that 
too. Mr. Rumsfeld thought he could deny for so long the people would 
get tired and stop asking questions. Nixon's henchmen in the White 
House thought that too.
  Rumsfeld thought a wave of the hand and attacking your critics could 
manipulate the news media into looking the other way. Nixon tried that 
too and it did not work.
  The truth catches up with you, Mr. Rumsfeld. Like a Republican 
President who disgraced this country, Secretary Rumsfeld has abused the 
trust America has placed in its leaders. No one is above the law, not 
even those who show contempt for the law.
  Torture is torture, Mr. Rumsfeld, no matter what you call it.
  The abuse of power Secretary Rumsfeld triggered at the Pentagon has 
made Iraq even more dangerous for U.S. soldiers on the front lines. 
There is no excuse for that. There is no defense for that.
  America cannot believe the pictures we have seen who came from people 
who call this country home. Secretary Rumsfeld tortured the U.S. values 
with its total disregard for a military code of conduct that applies in 
war.
  The Geneva Convention was written to protect people in war from 
people like Secretary Rumsfeld, but he has dishonored this country and 
the tradition of the U.S. military. Instead of accepting the 
responsibility, the administration keeps throwing soldiers overboard in 
hopes that the question will stop before the truth emerges.
  The latest casualty is General Janis Karpinski, who calls herself a 
``convenient scapegoat.'' With the blessing of Secretary Rumsfeld, she 
says, the Abu Ghraib prison was ``Gitmoed.''
  General Karpinski points to the top U.S. Commander for Iraq, General 
Ricardo Sanchez. Rumsfeld just rotated him out of the country. Out of 
sight, out of mind, that is the view of Mr. Rumsfeld. General Karpinski 
asks what was asked during the Nixon administration as they desperately 
tried to cover up Watergate. What did he know and when did he know it?
  General Karpinski says that Sanchez needs to be questioned about the 
abuse. Rumsfeld says Sanchez needs a well-deserved rest after a trying 
time in Iraq. General Karpinski says the military commander in charge 
at Guantanamo Bay, Major General Geoffrey Miller, likened Iraqi 
prisoners to dogs. She quotes him, ``They are like dogs and if you 
allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog, then 
you have lost control of them.''
  Secretary Rumsfeld is responsible for a military scandal that has 
commanders equating human beings with animals and treating them even 
worse.
  The first step in restoring U.S. credibility is removing the weakest 
link in the U.S. military chain of command. That is the man at the top. 
Mr. Rumsfeld forgot that in war a nation must not only fight the enemy, 
it must also fight to retain its values. America should be a country 
that stands for bravery. Rumsfeld has made America a nation that is 
ashamed. Either resign or get fired. That is what the President ought 
to do, Mr. Speaker.
  America deserves better than this. When they catch an American in 
Iraq and they say we will treat him like they treated the prisoners at 
Abu Ghraib, everybody gets up in arms and says what is going on here. 
Mr. Rumsfeld is to blame. Whatever happens to that American is because 
the Secretary of War in this country acted not in the America's best 
interest, but in the belief that he could do anything because he was 
the Secretary of War.

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