[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 21, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     UNDERMINING OF AMERICAN VALUES

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, the Bush administration and Republican 
leaders are engaged in a pathetic attempt to make Senator Dick Durbin's 
condemnation of the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay an issue.
  As a result of the revelations of conditions at Guantanamo, Abu 
Ghraib, the Bagram Prison in Afghanistan, the Republicans owe the 
American people, our soldiers, and veterans an apology for undermining 
American values such as the rule of law, for putting our troops at 
greater risk around the world, and for cutting veterans health benefits 
when they come home, and failing to provide our troops the equipment 
they need to protect themselves on the battlefield.
  Clearly the Republicans are reading the polls and watching their 
approval as well as the approval for the misguided war plummet. So in a 
desperate attempt to shift the blame, they want to shoot the messenger.
  Everyone knows what Senator Durbin meant, and he was right. The 
United States of America stands for the rule of law, not for torture. 
It is this administration and the Republican leaders, certainly not our 
soldiers and not Senator Durbin, who has tarnished the image of our 
great country.

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