[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 87 (Tuesday, June 22, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H4650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RULE OF LAW MAY FINALLY RULE IN IRAQ

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the rule of law may finally apply to U.S. 
military and civilian commanders running the President's war in Iraq. 
The American people may finally learn the truth behind the prisoner 
abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib.
  A U.S. military judge has ruled that lawyers defending low-ranking 
soldiers can question top U.S. commanders. It is the first step in 
getting the truth, and it is about time. A lawyer for one soldier 
summed up a widely held view: ``No one can suggest with a straight face 
that these MPs acted alone.'' Yet that is exactly what this 
administration keeps trying to do.
  Congress and the American people have heard the tortured logic from 
the administration and its spin doctors. No rational person is buying 
it.
  Those who flaunted the law, regardless of rank in the military or the 
administration, must be brought to justice. To rebuild our credibility, 
the world must know that we are a nation of laws, not of men and their 
ideas.

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