[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5844-H5845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TORTURE UNDERMINES OUR VALUES AND MAKES US WEAKER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, nothing has stained the honor of the United 
States in recent years like the use of torture against detainees, 
detainees in Iraq and detainees elsewhere. Torture goes against our 
Nation's most basic values, and it undermines the American people's 
reputation as a compassionate and committed people to human rights.
  Torture is not only immoral; it has a practical damaging effect on 
our foreign policy. When America is involved in torture, we lose the 
moral authority that is our most powerful weapon in the fight against 
terrorism. How can we lead the world against terrorism when the world 
believes that we don't respect the rule of law ourselves?
  That is why I want to call attention to a new report on torture that 
was issued last week by the group Physicians for Human Rights. This 
group assembled a team of doctors and psychologists to evaluate former 
detainees held in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. The team 
found that the detainees were tortured, even though no charges were 
ever brought against them or any explanation ever given for their 
imprisonment.
  The torture consisted of beatings, electric shocks, involuntary 
medication, shackling, and sexual humiliation. Other techniques were 
used, but they are far too awful for me to mention here. One Iraqi 
detainee who was held for a time in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison 
said he was subjected to psychological abuse as well as physical 
torture. He said that his captors threatened to rape his mother and his 
sisters.
  Former Major General Anthony Taguba, who conducted the Army's 
investigation of the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004, wrote a preface to the 
report. He said, ``In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton 
cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was 
promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform 
Code of Military Justice were disregarded. The U.N. Convention Against 
Torture was indiscriminately ignored . . . ''
  He continued: ``Through the experiences,'' he said, ``of these men . 
. . we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound 
policy has inflicted, both on American institutions and our founding 
values.''
  Mr. Speaker, I am sure that there will be some people who will try to 
discredit this report by charging that it was prepared by a group 
determined to embarrass the administration. But if they don't believe 
this report, perhaps they will believe the reporting of the McClatchy 
newspapers, which conducted an 8-month investigation of the U.S. 
detention system created after 9/11. The McClatchy investigation found 
``that the United States imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to 
abuse, stripped them of their legal rights, and allowed Islamic 
militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay into a school for 
jihad.''
  This House did the honorable thing a few months ago when it voted to 
stop the use of waterboarding and other illegal interrogation 
techniques. Forty-three retired generals and admirals supported that 
bill. Eighteen national security experts, including former Secretaries 
of State and national security advisers, supported it as well. But the 
President vetoed this bill, sending the world a message that America 
condones torture.
  Torture doesn't work. It doesn't produce good information. It exposes 
our own troops to torture if they are captured. It creates enemies. In 
short, torture doesn't make us stronger; it makes us weaker.
  Congress must recognize these facts and move to restore our Nation's 
good name. The best way to begin to do that is by redeploying our 
troops out of Iraq and then help the Iraqi people to rebuild their 
lives and their country. I know that this won't happen soon given last 
week's vote on funding for the occupation of Iraq. But sooner or later, 
Congress must act. Redeploying out of Iraq will help to heal the wounds 
of torture and right the wrongs.

[[Page H5845]]

  Mr. Speaker, it's time for America to be America again: peace loving, 
compassionate, and a true champion of human rights, and restore our 
dignity.

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