[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 81 (Friday, June 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H4708-H4709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SMART SECURITY AND TORTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H4709]]

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, the way we treat our enemies speaks volumes 
about our character as a Nation, and I am embarrassed to say that 
America's treatment of prisoners over the last several years does not 
speak highly of our national integrity.
  Since 9/11 and especially over the last 2 years, news of prisoners 
being mistreated, beaten, sexually assaulted, and even killed while in 
U.S. custody has become all too commonplace. Prisoners have been 
tortured in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Considering the 
widespread use of torture, no one can claim that these are isolated 
incidents, that it is merely the work of a few bad apples.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, I fear there will be more appalling news about 
American abuses of Iraqi people coming. The fact that torture occurred 
in separate places and under the command of different interrogators 
leads me to believe that a more systemic failure took place.
  One could say that the turning point, the day torture became a 
routine tactic employed by the United States, was August 1, 2002. That 
is the day the Justice Department sent a memo to the White House 
stating that torturing terrorists in captivity ``may be justified.'' It 
is just not that physical abuse has taken place under our watch. That 
is bad enough. What is just as appalling is that legal abuses have 
taken place here at home. We have kept people in prison for more than 3 
years without charging them with a crime, and the administration has 
affirmed this practice through legal memos.
  This approval of torture by the White House, the Pentagon, and the 
Justice Department is not only shameful; it also endangers the United 
States. At a time when the United States is courting the support of the 
international world, particularly the Arab world, the torture of 
foreign prisoners along with our invasion of Iraq gives the world's 
extremists what they believe to be a legitimate reason to hate the 
United States. There has been no better recruiting tool for al Qaeda 
than the events at Abu Ghraib and in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, there must be a better way to conduct foreign policy 
than by beating, torturing, and sexually assaulting our enemies. The 
United States has other options than to engage in the sadistic 
practices of torture. We in the United States are better people than 
that.
  That is why I have reintroduced the SMART Security legislation with 
the support of 50 of my colleagues. SMART Security is a Sensible, 
Multilateral, American Response to Terrorism for the 21st Century; and 
it will help secure the United States for the future. SMART Security 
will ensure America's security by reaching out and engaging the Iraqi 
people. Instead of rushing off to war for the wrong reasons and then 
engaging in torture once we are there, SMART Security encourages the 
United States to work with other nations to address the most pressing 
global issues.
  Not every international problem has a military answer, and that is 
why SMART Security will prevent terrorism by addressing the very 
conditions which give rise to terrorism in the first place: poverty, 
despair, resource scarcity, and lack of proper education.
  The situation in the Middle East requires the best America has to 
offer. SMART Security relies on the very best of America: our 
commitment to peace and freedom, our compassion for the people of the 
world, and our capacity for multilateral leadership. This is the best 
way to encourage democracy in countries like Iraq. Not through wars 
that cost thousands of unnecessary deaths, not by throwing billions of 
dollars at our problems, and certainly not by torturing our enemies.
  We have a responsibility to set a positive example for the rest of 
the world. We can end this shameful chapter in our Nation's history by 
pledging that the United States does not condone acts of torture.
  To show the world that we mean business, we need to create a plan to 
begin bringing home the soldiers serving in Iraq. By ending the 
military occupation of Iraq, we will demonstrate that America is 
committed to peace in the Middle East and the rest of the world. It is 
time to start this process. We need to start it today.

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