[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14629-14630]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               INVESTIGATING GUANTANAMO DETENTION CENTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, whenever we approach this 
microphone in this institution, we do it with the greatest of respect. 
I respect my colleague who just spoke of the great duty and service 
given to America by the men and women on the front lines all over the 
world, but in this instance, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  This weekend I had the opportunity to see another fine example of 
servicemen and women, soldiers and sailors, working together at 
Guantanamo. But as we respect and appreciate their service, I have also 
had the opportunity to engage in conversation with these brave young 
men and women, Reservists, National Guard, and the one thing they 
understand is that what they are fighting for is freedom, and they are 
fighting for the availability and the opportunity for there to be 
public disagreement, dissent. That is the basis of our Constitution. 
That is why we love America.
  So I rise today to simply raise questions; to applaud the improvement 
that has occurred in Guantanamo, but also to suggest that there needs 
to be transparency, there needs to be an understanding that there was a 
before and now an after. We need to be able to investigate thoroughly 
allegations of inappropriate behavior, abuse, by those in the FBI, the 
media and non-governmental agencies, to be able to clear the stain that 
might be on those who are working hard now.
  A bipartisan commission could investigate by way of talking to the 
detainees; understand fully what the military tribunals mean and how 
they operate; whether or not detainees have a right to counsel; why 
they are being held indefinitely; why there are no charges; why there 
has not been a prosecution and a conviction; and to emphasize the Rasul 
case, which talks about access to the courts through habeas corpus 
proceedings.
  Again, what I said very clearly is progress has been made, and I 
applaud that progress. But progress will be greatly made if we have an 
understanding through a bipartisan process of what Guantanamo means, 
and ultimately to prosecute the bad and horrific terrorists, for none 
of us want to see terrorists released. But for those who are able to 
return home, to be detained at home, to be held at home, to be kept off 
the battlefield so that those in Guantanamo do not pose a threat to our 
soldiers on the battlefield and to be held against them if they happen 
to be caught by the enemy.

                              {time}  2245

  I ask for a simple point that freedom means airing, freedom means the 
opportunity to ask questions and to get answers. I say that again 
tonight, as we heard the President speak to the American people.

[[Page 14630]]

  First, I applaud the fact that the President has come to the American 
people; it is something that I have asked for time and time again. But, 
Mr. Speaker, let me simply say this: we need a success strategy in 
order to be able to have our troops come home. It is not a cut-and-run 
strategy, and I resent the interpretation that those of us who have 
asked for a success strategy that will bring dignity and respect to our 
troops and freedom to the Iraqi people are in any way cutting and 
running.
  The strategies that the President offered tonight do not lead us on 
that pathway. The relating of the war in Iraq to the 9/11 tragedy, the 
horrific terrorist act, does not comport, if you will. We are fighting 
a War on Terror. We need all of our allies to help us fight it. We need 
the Iraqis, we need the Jordanians, we need the Saudi Arabians, we need 
all of them. But this ongoing conflict and war in Iraq with our 
soldiers entrenched where the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government has 
not reached out to diversify their government to include the Sunnis, to 
make sure that they are fighting collectively against the bad elements 
in a unified force, that is what is keeping us from peace. Embedding 
our soldiers and Iraqi forces is a good military strategy, but it is 
not a political end to this war. And, yes, we are looking for the 
writing of a Constitution, the voting on a Constitution, but we need a 
success strategy, a time that we can look toward for our troops to be 
able to come home.
  It would be well to give military strategies that include training 
our national Iraqi forces, which I agree with, and I offered an 
amendment on the Floor of the House, working with conferees on the 
Defense Appropriation, to ensure that that occurs. I support the 
Skelton-Harman bill that talks about reinforcing the Iraqi forces, but 
that is not a success strategy. Again, there is no fear to being able 
to talk about the time of our troops coming home, acknowledging the 
brave stand that they have taken and the success that they have had in 
initially toppling Saddam Hussein.
  I disagreed with this war from the beginning because I believed that 
it was not a constitutional war because Congress had not declared war. 
But I am prepared to work with the President now, to work with our 
colleagues in order to develop a success strategy that comes with honor 
and dignity.
  What we had tonight leaves us empty because, in fact, I would hope 
that we could believe that the insurgency would go down. But we cannot 
expect that, in the backdrop of Secretary Rumsfeld clearly saying that 
the insurgents would be active for 12 years, and tonight we did not 
hear any solution to the violence of the insurgents. I believe that 
with the presence of military forces with the United States there, the 
insurgents will continue to rise.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to bring peace to this 
crisis in Iraq. We cannot do it without an effective success strategy 
for our troops and for America.

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