[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8407-8408]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        IRAQ PRISONER ATROCITIES

  Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I was present for the concluding remarks 
of the majority leader regarding the atrocities committed in Iraq 
against the prisoners there. I certainly share his sentiments. A number 
of my colleagues have spoken today from both sides of the aisle 
expressing their horror, their outrage, and their deep regret. I join 
with them as well.
  I also am deeply disturbed as a Senator and as a Member of the Senate 
Armed Services Committee at the lack of communication from the military 
and the civilian command to those Members of the Senate about these 
incidents--in fact, right up to the moment they were disclosed to the 
American people through, fortunately, a free and vigilant press.
  According to the information I have been able to obtain, a copy of 
the most recently referenced classified internal military report, and 
other news reports about that and other information, many of these 
incidents that have been under investigation occurred last October, 
last November--in other words, over half a year ago. They are horrible 
events. The report said that Iraqi prisoners had been victims of 
sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses. They were beaten with 
broom handles and chairs and threatened with rape. One prisoner was 
sodomized with a chemical light stick or with a broomstick. Military 
dogs were also used to frighten and intimidate detainees. One graphic 
description in the New York Times today talks about the experience of a 
particular Iraqi male, the deep humiliation and shame he still feels, 
the utter degradation, the sadistic and disgusting abuse of him night 
after night by his American captors.
  I agree with the remarks of the majority leader that these people 
carrying out these terrible deeds were few in number, but tragically 
their impact is enormous. They are going to make life a lot more 
difficult and a lot more dangerous for the 134,000 incredibly brave, 
patriotic Americans who are over there putting their lives on the line 
every day and night.
  A story in the New York Times gives a sense of how this is affecting 
the way the United States is viewed in the Arab world, saying in the 
Arab world and beyond, the tormenting of Iraqi prisoners by their 
American guards shredded already thin support for Washington's invasion 
of Iraq and its vow to install democratic values and respect for human 
rights.
  The outrage over the abuse shown in pictures flashed across front 
pages and television screens drew emotional comparisons, asking how the 
American occupation of the country could be distinguished from the way 
Saddam Hussein's government oppressed the ordinary Iraqis. This kind of 
outrage will lead to more attacks against our forces, greater intensity 
of attacks, more bombing and assassination attempts against our forces 
and other representatives, more casualties, more men and women from 
America dying, shedding blood as a result of this immoral and illegal 
misconduct.
  The U.S. military, according to this report, first became aware of 
these incidents, or some of them, as early as January of this year; in 
fact, maybe even sooner than that. It was January 19 that LTG Ricardo 
Sanchez, the commander of the joint task force in Iraq, requested that 
these incidents of last October, November, and December be 
investigated. There was a preliminary report which indicated systemic 
problems within the prison brigade and suggested a lack of clear 
standards, proficiency, and leadership.
  That investigation began then on January 24. It was carried out 
through interviews and other investigations of both Iraqi prisoners, 
former prisoners, and U.S. military personnel who had witnessed these 
incidents.
  On February 29, the executive summary was presented to the military 
command; on March 19, the final written report. The outbrief to the 
appointing authority took place on March 3, 2004. That is 2 months ago, 
and actually the 2 months preceding that, various people in the chain 
of command were aware of these incidents.
  They must have recognized the enormous impact they would have, the 
devastating effect they would have upon our situation in that country, 
militarily, diplomatically, and in our relations with other countries 
throughout the world. Yet as far as I have been told, not one word--not 
one word, literally, was communicated to anyone in the Senate, Democrat 
or Republican.
  We had, in fact, a briefing last Thursday afternoon, a top-secret 
classified briefing, which was attended, as I recall, by about 40 to 45 
Members of the Senate with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That briefing occurred 2, 3 hours before the 
``60 Minutes II'' report which disclosed these incidents and this 
report. Not one word--not one word--was mentioned to any of us.
  I have been in briefings as a member of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee through the last weeks and months where we have asked, time 
after time: What is going on? What is the progress? What is the lack of 
progress? Where are the problems? What is occurring? Not a word about 
this. Not a word, until it occurred, of the eruption of violence, the 
intensification of violence, in key areas of Iraq over the last several 
weeks, which caused, in April, the highest level of casualties since 
the war began. We ask, again and again: What is going on? And we are 
told: Everything is fine. We are making great progress.
  As early as last August, we were told 95 percent of the country is 
peacefully progressing. Everything is going well. And we find out, 
through news reports or through the reality of events, that is not the 
case.
  There is no credibility. The American people are not being told the 
facts and the truth. The U.S. Congress is not being told the facts and 
the truth. We deserve the facts and the truth.
  I do not know who knew what at what point in time up through this 
chain of command. But I believe we have the responsibility and the 
right to find out. We are going to have, I am told, the opportunity, in 
the Senate Armed Services Committee, to meet with Secretary of Defense 
Rumsfeld this Friday morning. I certainly--and I know others, too--will 
be asking for that sequence of events and asking why it is that we are 
not told relevant information, crucial information that affects the 
conditions over there, the progress or lack thereof, that then, in 
turn, affects the lives, the safety, the well-being of the men and 
women who are serving over there heroically, and whose families are 
waiting back in my State of Minnesota and across this country, 
frantically, anxiously, wondering what their future is going to be, 
wondering if they are going to return home alive safely.
  We were elected in a democratic process by those men and women, their 
families, to be here to look out for them, to ask questions about what 
is going on, to be given the information about what is occurring, so we 
can participate in decisions that are going to affect U.S. policies 
that are going to determine the outcome of their lives--when they will 
be home, whether they will come home.
  I think the people at various levels who participated in this 
investigation--I am not going to call it a coverup because there was an 
ongoing investigation, but, my goodness, for the last 2 months, when it 
was completed, and we were not informed, it was not being reported. If 
not covered up, it was being hidden from Congress.
  I am going to ask those individuals to read or reread the United 
States Constitution and refresh their understanding of what it means to 
be in a constitutionally established democracy

[[Page 8408]]

where the executive branch and the legislative branch have coequal 
responsibilities.
  I certainly would like to work with Members of both sides of the 
aisle in regard to the authorization of military----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 1 minute to 
conclude my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I would like to work with Members of both 
sides of the aisle to put in place language, in the military 
authorization and in any supplemental requests that are going to be 
made, that we be given full and necessary disclosure, the same way we 
require corporations that are making stock offerings to inform their 
investors, the same way we require corporations and those running them 
to inform their boards of directors of relevant, critically important 
information that has a material bearing on the information that is 
being presented so they can make informed decisions. We are getting far 
less than that. We are being asked to make informed decisions when we 
are not being given the information, we are not being told the truth. 
We are having vital, important information withheld. That has to stop. 
We need to disclose what has occurred in these incidents.
  We need to make sure they never happen again. And we need to make 
sure that we in Congress are given the opportunity that we deserve, the 
right that we have, to look out on behalf of the American people to 
make sure they never occur again.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Thank you, Mr. President.

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