[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E15-E16]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF BILL TO DETER ADDITIONAL ABUSES OF PRISONERS AND 
                DETAINEES IN THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 4, 2005

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, it has been my privilege since the terrorist 
attacks of September 11th to visit our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Just a few days ago, I also traveled to Guantanamo Bay with my 
colleagues, U.S. Senator Jon Corzine and U.S. Representative Robert 
Menendez, to investigate conditions at this key installation and visit 
with our soldiers on duty there, many of whom are members of the 
National Guard from our home state of New Jersey. Every visit I've made 
with our troops has added to the profound admiration and deep respect I 
have for the brave men and women who serve in our nation's armed forces 
and who are prosecuting this very difficult global war on terrorism.
  At the same time, we do not honor the soldiers when we fail to 
investigate and call to account all of those up and down the chain of 
U.S. military command who are directly or indirectly responsible for 
abusing detainees under U.S. control. This grim reality is made all the 
clearer in an open letter delivered today to members of the U.S. Senate 
Judiciary Committee from a dozen top-ranking retired military officers 
in the U.S. armed services. They underscore that current U.S. detention 
and interrogation operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, and 
elsewhere have undermined our intelligence gathering efforts, and added 
to the risks facing our troops serving around the world.
  Last year, three reports that were compiled by U.S. Army officers and 
the bipartisan investigative commission appointed by U.S. Defense 
Secretary Rumsfeld documented in horrifying detail the egregious human 
rights abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib Prison and other detention 
facilities under U.S. military control. Yet, the Congress failed to do 
our job, doggedly investigate how and why these abuses occurred, and 
put in place new safeguards for interrogations in U.S. military 
detention facilities and unfettered, independent investigations of 
prisoner treatment. As a result, more abuses have occurred.
  In recent weeks, more credible disclosures of prisoner abuses at 
Guantanamo and other sites where detainees are being held have come to 
light because of reports from the International Committee of the Red 
Cross, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the NYU Center for Human 
Rights and Global Justice and the Association of the American Bar of 
the City of New York. It is increasingly difficult for anybody to argue 
that the abusive behavior came from a few aberrant soldiers. Broader 
systemic problems need to be probed by this new Congress. Certainly, we 
all must concede that the on-going stream of new disclosures continues 
to hurt American standing in the global community of nations and the 
costs of these recurring, self-inflicted wounds and related risks to 
the safety of our soldiers continue to mount.
  That is why I am today re-introducing legislation I first sponsored 
last July H.R. 4951 in the 108th Congress. It is designed to help 
prevent the kinds of abuses that occurred at Abu

[[Page E16]]

Ghraib and elsewhere at DoD-controlled prisons.
  My bill has three main provisions.
  First, it would require videotaping of interrogations and other 
pertinent interactions between U.S. personnel and/or contractors, and 
detainees arrested and held in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and 
elsewhere, pursuant to the war on terrorism, as recommended by the Army 
Inspector General. The tapes would be kept at the appropriate level of 
classification.

  Second, it would ensure unfettered access to prisoners and detainees 
by representatives of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, the 
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on 
Torture for independent monitoring of detainee conditions and 
treatment.
  Third, it would require the Judge Advocate General, pursuant to the 
Uniform Code of Military Justice, to develop guidelines designed to 
ensure that the required videotaping is sufficiently expansive to 
prevent abuses of the fundamental human rights of detainees and 
prisoners and violations of the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva 
Conventions of 1949, and other bedrock U.S. and international laws.
  I am gratified that my bill has already been enthusiastically 
endorsed by Amnesty International Human Rights Watch, Human Rights 
First, and the American Civil Liberties Union. Their self explanatory 
letters of support follow this statement. I am also encouraged that the 
U.S. Army Inspector General has expressed support for videotaping 
prisoner interrogations, in principle, in order to better protect the 
fundamental human rights of detainees and U.S. soldiers from false 
charges at the same time.
  The abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere never should 
have happened. They have indelibly stained the honor of our country and 
the overwhelming majority of U.S. troops who are defending our freedom 
with courage and personal responsibility. To whatever extent they 
continue, they aid and abet our enemies in the war on terrorism. I 
intend to press hard for enactment of this legislation during the 109th 
Congress.

                          ____________________