[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 9, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H10115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WHO NEEDS THE FIRST AMENDMENT?

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the 
House for 5 minutes out of order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, who needs the first amendment when we 
have the Republican Party? Their view is that the American people just 
do not need to know what their government is doing in their name. We 
just do not need to know that this country now has secret CIA-un 
prisons around the world where prisoners are sent or sentenced because 
they get no representation. After all, Dick Cheney, our President of 
foreign policy, supports us looking and acting like Cold War countries 
we used to fear. We do not have any skills in building facilities to be 
ashamed of, so we rent those old Cold War prison camps in places where 
people went in and were never heard from again.
  Republican leaders just do not think this is the kind of information 
the American people need to know. After all, we might talk about it. 
Someone might write about it. Someone might question why we want to 
behave like the Cold War all over again. But this time, we are on the 
other side. The American people would not know any of this except for 
The Washington Post reporting about prisoners and policies that sound 
more like the enemy than the good guys.

                              {time}  1930

  This did not sit well with Dick Cheney and he let Republican leaders 
on Capitol Hill know it, behind closed doors of course, his favorite 
location. Almost immediately Republican leaders fell in behind the 
President of Foreign Policy and carried out their orders. Find the 
person who dared let America know what is really going on behind those 
closed doors.
  Republican leaders intend to find out who let the American people 
know about the dirty little secret that the administration did not want 
us to know. It is detention at a whole new level where suspects simply 
vanish, and they did not want us to know. And we would not have known 
except for journalism's ability to report all the news thanks to the 
first amendment.
  Why do they want to keep us in the dark? Because Americans would be 
appalled, because American know that we can fight and win a war without 
sacrificing the principles that made us America in the first place. 
America does not need a mask over its face to beat the people wearing 
masks over theirs. And America does not need secret prisons hidden in 
other countries as if that somehow that absolves us from 
responsibility. This kind of perverse policy says a lot about how out 
of touch this administration is, especially its President of Foreign 
Policy, with the values and strengths of America.
  Do you think Americans will not be ashamed or that the world will not 
be appalled again by our actions? Did we not learn anything from Abu 
Ghraib? What will it take for this administration to stop acting in 
ways that cause the average American to shake his head and avert his 
eyes? What will it take for this administration to realize that every 
time it deploys another deplorable policy, it puts our soldiers in Iraq 
and everywhere else at greater risk. What kind of arrogance and abuse?
  This happened before in another Republican administration that became 
so flushed with power they forgot who they worked for. They too tried 
to hide black ops aimed at subverting political opponents and anyone 
who dared challenge their power. Nixon and his cronies almost got away 
with it except for the reporting of the same paper.
  In the end, the corruption ate away at the pillars of the Republican 
power until it all came crashing down around them. A Vice President and 
a President resigned from office. The country was appalled by their 
conduct.
  The first amendment of the Constitution was America's last defense 
against the Nixon administration and it is true again today. It is no 
wonder Republicans want to replace the first amendment with amendment 
1-R. That is where one Republican will tell the American people what 
you are supposed to know and attack anyone who dares challenge them. 
Everything you need to know will come out only from the Republicans in 
power. That is what they want, government behind closed doors.
  We used to recognize the rule of law and the Geneva Convention. Now 
we are at the point that we do not recognize America's strengths and 
values. Dare to challenge these Republicans and they will out you one 
way or another.
  Prisoners are not the only ones vanishing under the policies and 
direction of the Bush administration, so is the truth. And the first 
amendment is America's last line of defense.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot let the Republicans do away with the first 
amendment. It is our only hope in a democracy.

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