[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 65 (Thursday, May 12, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2900-S2901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             USE OF TORTURE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there was a column written in this 
morning's

[[Page S2901]]

Washington Post which was extraordinary. It was written by one of our 
Republican colleagues, Senator John McCain of Arizona.
  John McCain and I came to the House of Representatives in the same 
year--1983. Though he came to the Senate first, we have worked on many 
things together over the years. We have our differences, that is for 
sure. But there are times when John does extraordinarily good things, 
and this morning was one of them. He wrote a column in the Washington 
Post about the issue of torture. It is an issue that has been in the 
headlines for the last 2 weeks, after the capture and killing of Osama 
bin Laden and the questions raised as to whether so-called enhanced 
interrogation techniques, or torture in another parlance, were used to 
obtain information that led to Osama bin Laden.
  A few years ago, that issue came up on the floor of the Senate. I had 
strong feelings about it. But Senator McCain stepped up and led the 
effort to put the Senate and our government on record that we were 
opposed to the use of torture. No person is better qualified in this 
Congress to speak to it than Senator McCain. He was a victim of torture 
himself when he served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam war. He was 
shot down as a naval aviator and spent more than 5 years in prison. I 
cannot imagine what that must have been like. Couple that with the 
severe physical injuries he still labors with today and the torture--
mental and physical--that accompanied it, and no person is as well 
qualified as Senator McCain to speak to it.
  This morning, in the Washington Post, he once again stated what may 
not be the popular view but I believe is the right view--that the 
United States should make it clear we do not accept torture as a 
standard for our conduct when it comes to dealing with our enemies. For 
the longest time, that has been our standard. It was only relaxed or 
changed after 9/11, when some in a previous administration argued that 
was the only way to get information from these hard-core terrorists.
  Senator McCain made a good point in his article this morning in the 
Washington Post. He asked Leon Panetta, head of the Central 
Intelligence Agency, whether there was any linkage to these enhanced 
interrogation techniques and the information that led to the disclosure 
of the messenger who was then linked to Osama bin Laden which led to 
his capture. Leon Panetta said no, and McCain revealed that in his 
article. In fact, the information which came out of waterboarding one 
of these terrorists ended up being just plain wrong. Senator McCain 
made the point in his article, when you are being tortured, you will 
say almost anything to make the torture stop. You will lie, if you have 
to, just to make it stop. That is what happened here.
  So I wish to commend him. It was courageous for him to write that 
article this morning--not very popular but right. I wish to thank John 
on behalf of both sides of the Senate aisle for his leadership and for 
having the courage to speak out on such an important issue relative to 
the values of America and who we are.
  He ended his column talking about how we would expect our troops to 
be treated if they were taken prisoner. If anyone tortured an American 
soldier, I don't know of a single American who wouldn't step forward 
and say it is an outrage. Well, if we are going to stand for humane 
treatment, sensible treatment of detainees, then we are doing it not 
only to protect our values but to protect our men and women who serve 
this country both in the intelligence agencies and in the military 
services.

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