[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 146 (Monday, November 7, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12416-S12418]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON DETAINEE TREATMENT

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of Senator 
Levin's amendment to create an independent commission to investigate 
the policies and practices relating to the treatment of what we have 
come to call detainees but what are, in fact, prisoners being held by 
the Government.
  I am proud to be a cosponsor of that important amendment. I urge my 
colleagues to support it as well.
  Let me say a word, initially, about the use of language. We sometimes 
use language without focusing on the implications of that language. 
Unfortunately, in the case of this discussion, we have fallen into the 
practice of referring to these individuals at Guantanamo and elsewhere 
as ``detainees.'' Of course, the suggestion that someone is being 
detained is a lot less onerous or implies a lot less of a taking of 
that person's freedom than the phrase ``being imprisoned.'' The truth 
is, these individuals are being imprisoned.
  The amendment that Senator Levin has offered would have an 
independent commission evaluate the current practice of indefinitely 
imprisoning individuals at Guantanamo without ever charging them with a 
crime in either Federal court or under a competent military tribunal.
  This commission would then report back to Congress and give us 
recommendations on whether we should change existing law or change 
policy on this set of important issues. The current practice of holding 
detainees or prisoners indefinitely, without affording them basic due 
process rights, has been widely criticized in this country and 
throughout the world. For a country such as ours that has consistently 
advocated for the rule of law, the policies of the current 
administration are nothing short of a major embarrassment.
  Since September 11 of 2001, the administration has asserted 
extraordinary new powers with respect to the imprisoning of individuals 
suspected of being involved in terrorism. The President has argued that 
the Government has the authority to indefinitely imprison any person 
that he, the President, determines to be an ``enemy combatant.'' They 
have that authority whether or not the person is a U.S. citizen. Of 
course, our Government has also forcefully opposed any judicial review 
of the President's determination in that regard.
  There are over 500 people who are currently being imprisoned in 
Guantanamo. Many of these individuals have been held for over 3 years 
without being afforded the ability to challenge the basis for their 
detention. The administration has developed a new category of detainee, 
the ``unlawful enemy combatant,'' and they have argued that neither the 
laws of war nor traditional criminal laws apply to these individuals. 
In essence, we have created a new type of prisoner who is unable to 
seek the protections of the Geneva Conventions or to take advantage of 
the rights afforded to individuals in this country under our criminal 
justice system or

[[Page S12417]]

under the criminal justice system that applies in our military. Under 
the current procedures, every Guantanamo prisoner is reviewed by a 
combatant status review tribunal to determine whether the Department of 
Defense believes that individual is an ``enemy combatant.'' If a person 
is found to be an enemy combatant, they may be held indefinitely, 
although they are entitled to go before an administrative review board 
once a year to prove that they are no longer a threat. Of the 
approximately 500 prisoners at Guantanamo, 4 individuals have been 
charged to date. The remaining 496 or so have not been charged.
  Serious concerns have been raised with regard to the rights we are 
affording these prisoners under the current procedures for processing 
the prisoners. I have repeatedly raised concerns regarding this 
approach. I believe that it challenges our historic commitment to the 
rule of law. I have never advocated that the Department of Defense 
release these prisoners but, rather, have said that they should be 
tried in the criminal justice system or they should be tried in the 
military justice system, but they should be tried somewhere and be 
given an opportunity to challenge the basis for their detention. I 
believe it is appropriate to ensure that they do not indefinitely 
remain in a state of legal limbo and are afforded basic due process 
rights that allow them to assert their innocence.
  Last week, on November 1, there was an article in The Washington Post 
that highlighted some of the problems that occur when people are 
imprisoned indefinitely without recourse to any viable legal process. 
According to the article, there have been 36 attempted suicides at 
Guantanamo. Clearly, when people are desperate and have no hope, they 
turn to drastic measures. I ask unanimous consent that article be 
printed in the Record following my comments.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. BINGAMAN. I strongly believe that due process rights of some sort 
are at the bedrock of American values and they should not be discarded 
lightly, due process rights that apply even to individuals who are not 
citizens of this country. It is disappointing that in the eyes of the 
world, the United States has drifted from its longstanding adherence to 
the rule of law. In my view, we have an obligation to the American 
people to confront these difficult issues, and I believe Congress needs 
to act in that regard.
  Establishing this independent commission to look into these prisoner 
issues is an important first step. There have been multiple abuse 
scandals over the last couple of years that have hurt our image abroad 
and tainted the image of a vast majority of our soldiers who serve with 
honor and distinction. Now the European Union is investigating news 
reports that the CIA is holding suspected terrorists in Soviet-era 
detention facilities in eastern European countries. This is a 
troublesome development considering the widespread reports that our own 
Vice President continues to urge that bipartisan legislation passed in 
this Senate that would prohibit the CIA from using interrogation 
techniques that amount to cruel and inhuman treatment in these types of 
facilities be deleted from legislation on its way to the President.
  Our own President is in the very awkward position. During his current 
trip to Latin America, I saw him on television this morning trying to 
assure our allies in that region that the U.S. policy does not 
contemplate torture of prisoners. That is a sad day when we are having 
to publicly reassure our allies of something as basic as that.
  It is time that we seriously investigated these issues and came up 
with policies that the American people feel comfortable with, policies 
that are consistent with our Constitution and with the values of the 
American people.
  I yield the floor.

                               Exhibit 1

            Guantanamo Desperation Seen in Suicide Attempts

                            (By Josh White)

                [From the Washington Post, Nov. 1, 2005]

       Jumah Dossari had to visit the restroom, so the detainee 
     made a quick joke with his American lawyer before military 
     police guards escorted him to a nearby cell with a toilet. 
     The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had taken 
     quite a toll on Dossari over the past four years, but his 
     attorney, who was there to discuss Dossari's federal court 
     case, noted his good spirits and thought nothing of his 
     bathroom break.
       Minutes later, when Dossari did not return, Joshua 
     Colangelo-Bryan knocked on the cell door, calling out his 
     client's name. When he did not hear a response, Colangelo-
     Bryan stepped inside and saw a three-foot pool of blood on 
     the floor. Numb, the lawyer looked up to see Dossari hanging 
     unconscious from a noose tied to the ceiling, his eyes rolled 
     back, his tongue and lips bulging, blood pouring from a gash 
     in his right arm.
       Dossari's suicide attempt two weeks ago is believed to be 
     the first such event witnessed by an outsider at the prison, 
     and one of several signs that lawyers and human rights 
     advocates contend point to growing desperation among the more 
     than 500 detainees there. Lawyers believe Dossari, who has 
     been in solitary confinement for nearly two years, timed his 
     suicide attempt so that someone other than his guards would 
     witness it, a cry for help meant to reach beyond the base's 
     walls.
       Two dozen Guantanamo Bay detainees are currently being 
     force-fed in response to a lengthy hunger strike, and the 
     detainees' lawyers estimate there are dozens more who have 
     not eaten since August. Military officials say there are 27 
     hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay, all of whom are clinically 
     stable, closely monitored by medical personnel and receiving 
     proper nutrition.
       The hunger strikers are protesting their lengthy 
     confinements in the island prison, where some have been kept 
     for nearly four years and most have never been charged with a 
     crime. The most recent hunger strike came after detention 
     officials allegedly failed to honor promises made during a 
     previous hunger strike.
       Military authorities do not publicly discuss individual 
     detainees and declined to comment on Dossari. Lt. Col. Jeremy 
     Martin, spokesman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said 
     yesterday that there have been a total of 36 suicide attempts 
     by 22 different detainees, including three in the past 20 
     months. Martin said all detainees are treated humanely and 
     ``any threat of injury or suicide'' is taken seriously.
       He added that rapid intervention in suicide attempts has 
     prevented deaths. No detainee has died at the military 
     prison, he said.
       The protests come amid rising international concern about 
     the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Human rights 
     organizations and the United Nations have complained about 
     the lack of access to the detainees and voiced concern about 
     allegations of physical and psychological abuse, including 
     prolonged solitary confinement.
       U.S. officials are trying to return many of the detainees 
     to their home countries, but the process has been fraught 
     with delays and diplomatic wrangling.
       Three U.N. experts said yesterday that they would not 
     accept a U.S. government invitation to tour Guantanamo unless 
     they are granted private access to detainees, a concession 
     the U.S. has not been willing to make, citing the ongoing war 
     on terror and security concerns. Last week, the United States 
     invited the U.N. representatives on torture and arbitrary 
     detention to the facility, and the experts said yesterday 
     that they hope to visit in early December. But they described 
     their demand for access to the detainees as ``non-
     negotiable.''
       ``They said they have nothing to hide,'' Manfred Nowak, 
     U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said yesterday at a news 
     conference in New York. ``If they have nothing to hide, why 
     should we not be able to talk to detainees in private?''
       Colangelo-Bryan said he fears that many detainees would 
     rather die than be held indefinitely. He said he was shocked 
     but not surprised by Dossari's Oct. 15 suicide attempt, given 
     his ``horrible ordeal.''
       He said he knows only that medical personnel apparently 
     were able to revive Dossari, he had surgery and is in stable 
     condition.
       Detainees ``see it as the only means they have of 
     exercising control over their lives,'' Colangelo-Bryan said 
     in publicly describing the incident for the first time. 
     ``Their only means of effective protest are to harm 
     themselves, either by hunger strike or doing something like 
     this.''
       Martin said claims that hunger strikers are near death are 
     ``absolutely false.'' He said the latest protest began on 
     Aug. 8 and at one point had 131 participants but is now much 
     smaller.
       ``This technique, hunger striking, is consistent with the 
     al Qaeda training, and reflects the detainees' attempts to 
     elicit media attention and bring pressure on the United 
     States government,'' Martin said. The military also has long 
     argued that terrorist groups have instructed fighters to 
     invent claims of abuse if incarcerated.
       Dossari has told Colangelo-Bryan that he has endured abuse 
     and mistreatment on par with some of the worst offenses 
     discovered at any U.S. detention facility over the past four 
     years. In declassified notes recording the meetings, Dossari 
     describes abuse and torture that stretches back to his arrest 
     in Pakistan in December 2001, through the time he was turned 
     over to U.S. forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and ultimately 
     to his stay in Guantanamo Bay.
       Dossari, 26, said U.S. troops have put out cigarettes on 
     his skin, threatened to kill him

[[Page S12418]]

     and severely beat him. He told his lawyer that he saw U.S. 
     Marines at Kandahar ``using pages of the Koran to shine their 
     boots,'' and was brutalized at Guantanamo Bay by Immediate 
     Response Force guards who videotaped themselves attacking 
     him.
       The military says the IRF squads are sent into cells to 
     quell disturbances.
       Dossari told his lawyers that he had been wrapped in 
     Israeli and U.S. flags during interrogations--a tactic 
     recounted in FBI allegations of abuse at Guantanamo--and said 
     interrogators threatened to send him to countries where he 
     would be tortured.
       Dossari maintains that he is not connected to terrorism and 
     does not hate the United States. A fellow detainee said that 
     he saw Dossari at an al Qaeda training camp, his lawyer said.
       Colangelo-Bryan is a private New York lawyer with the 
     Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents some of 
     the detainees. The group plans a ``Fast for Justice'' rally 
     today in Washington to bring attention to the Guantanamo Bay 
     hunger strike.
       Colangelo-Bryan said Dossari has tried to commit suicide 
     before. Prolonged solitary confinement has given him almost 
     no contact with others and access to only a Koran and his 
     legal papers.
       ``In March, he looked at me in the eye and said, 'How can I 
     keep myself from going crazy?''' Colangelo-Bryan said.

  Mr. BINGAMAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Murkowski). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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