[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8987]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                DISTURBING EVENTS AND DISTURBING REMARKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I must say that I was not only 
quite disturbed, but concerned about the President's remarks yesterday 
at the Pentagon, and it goes as so: ``Mr. Secretary, thank you for your 
hospitality and thank you for your leadership. You are courageously 
leading our Nation in a war against terror. You are doing a superb job. 
You are a strong Secretary of Defense, and our Nation owes you a great 
debt of gratitude.''
  I must say that it is good to give commendations and thumbs up when 
it is time to give a thumbs up. But in the light of what is going on in 
the Department of Defense right now and in light of congressional 
hearings that are ongoing in the other body, I think the question mark 
of our true sincerity, being against the pictures, being against the 
acts that were carried out on individuals that were being questioned by 
members of our military in prison in Iraq, that I could say that the 
statements that are made by the Commander in Chief and also statements 
that are made by Secretary Rumsfeld and others could and will stimulate 
additional terrorism.
  Now, to say that you are leading our Nation against terror, well, 
that question is the question of the week and of the month. As the 
Pentagon admits, Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers, that we have had 
knowledge of the ungodly acts that took place in mid-January, and that 
it was reported from Central Command that this was a big deal, this was 
a big deal, and that Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers both admit 
that they meet 3 to 4 times, maybe 5, using Secretary Rumsfeld's 
number, a day, and that they meet with the President at least once a 
week to talk about what is going on in the Pentagon; that anyone that 
might have seen or heard about these pictures or the acts that were 
being carried out, that they did not rise to the level of the 
Presidency of the United States.
  Not only were these pictures and this investigation that the Pentagon 
had within the Pentagon, but the fact that it was not shared with the 
American people is even further disturbing.

                              {time}  1300

  Some folks say, well, Members of Congress are upset because they were 
not told. We are representatives of the people of the United States of 
America. Serving on the Committee on Armed Services, seeing week after 
week Pentagon brass coming before us, Secretary Rumsfeld coming before 
us and never once mention that something fundamentally wrong, we are 
investigating it, is going on in Saddam Hussein's prison in Iraq, not 
only the prison that the President spoke of as it relates to the terror 
and rape and things of that nature that were going on in that 
particular prison but including the Secretary of State and Secretary 
Rumsfeld, he mentioned 18,000 cases that are being heard by the 
Pentagon a year, 18,000. Well, 18,000 in that particular prison, not 
18,000 in the theater of war.
  One may say, well, if the Secretary steps down, then the terrorists 
win. I beg to differ. I feel that it will stop terrorists from 
recruiting young men and women to carry out acts of terror against 
Americans abroad and here on the homeland. It will show a true 
commitment of the fact that we are taking an about-face on what took 
place.
  Some of my colleagues have shared with us that there are six or seven 
individuals at fault here. I hope that is the case, but I can tell my 
colleagues that there is a building tide of evidence that proves 
different. Contractors, we may very well have to bring CEOs of 
companies before Congress to ask them what role did they have over 
commanding our American troops. That is disturbing in itself, the fact 
that a whole branch of our military or the Army unit that was over this 
particular prison was not trained for doing what they had to do; the 
fact that we knew and that the Pentagon was called in mid-January to 
say this was a big deal, not a little deal but a big deal; the fact 
that we were not informed. I will tell my colleagues the reason why 
Congress was not informed was because we would not have tolerated the 
suppression of this information.
  At the highest levels of our military, it is very, very important 
that this information is shared with the American people. At the 
highest levels of our military, including the Secretary of Defense, it 
is very important he shares this information.
  I will tell my colleagues, let us not stand and say things that will 
stimulate terrorism. Let us not take one step forward and three steps 
back.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that the House continues to move forth. I, 
for one, feel that Secretary Rumsfeld stepping down will save American 
lives and will allow our Pentagon to move forward the courts martial 
that are before it.

                          ____________________