[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 184 (Tuesday, December 9, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES FOR A PRESIDENTIAL ORDER ON 
                PRISONER TREATMENT, TORTURE, AND CRUELTY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 9, 2008

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Declaration 
of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner Treatment, 
Torture and Cruelty which is supported by a number of organizations and 
individuals, including the Council of Churches of Santa Clara County, 
California, in my Congressional District. I believe these principles 
will protect our country and the U.S. servicemen abroad by banning the 
use of cruel and inhumane interrogation methods.
  I fully support the core goals of this Declaration of Principles 
which include implementing a national standard for all U.S. personnel 
and agencies for the interrogation and treatment of prisoners and 
banning the use of any methods of interrogation that we would not find 
acceptable if used against Americans. Many of these issues were 
addressed in a bill I introduced this year to ban waterboarding as an 
interrogation technique.
  Waterboarding is torture and is recognized as such by the Geneva 
Convention. Its continued use by representatives of our nation 
contradicts what so many of our soldiers are fighting for overseas. The 
United States of America has long accepted that water torture is 
beneath the standards of a civil nation. In 1947, the United States 
prosecuted a Japanese military officer for carrying out a form of water 
torture on a U.S. civilian during the Second World War, securing a 
conviction and a sentence of 15 years of hard labor. The military has 
frequently prosecuted American military personnel for subjecting 
prisoners to water torture, including sentencing a U.S. Army major to 
10 years of hard labor for subjecting an insurgent to water torture in 
the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
  Our nation was able to win two world wars and defeat a rising tide of 
communism with this prohibition in place. I'm confident we can defeat 
our current enemies without undermining our moral dignity.
  As we move forward with a new Congress and a new Administration, we 
have the opportunity to change course and restore the rule of law. The 
Bush Administration has relied heavily on illegal and inhumane 
interrogation techniques, and by doing so has damaged our country's 
reputation in the process. We can restore the moral standards that 
guided us successfully for so many generations and the Declaration of 
Principles provides a framework for the United States to do just that. 
Congress and the Obama Administration must work to ensure that torture 
has no place in the battle against terrorism.

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