[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21944-21945]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          ABU GHRAIB PICTURES

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, yesterday, we had a hearing of the Senate 
Armed Services Committee where we had testify the Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, General Myers; we had General Casey, who is in charge 
of the battles that are taking place over there in Iraq at this time; 
we had General Abizaid, and we had Secretary Rumsfeld.
  About that time, we learned that, at the behest of the ACLU, a 
Federal judge in New York by the name of Alvin Hellerstein has ordered 
the Government to release more pictures of the Abu Ghraib abuse. This 
is despite the fact that General Myers said if you do this, it will 
cost American lives. Apparently, Hellerstein missed the Newsweek Koran 
debacle, where 15 people were killed immediately after a bogus report 
by that publication, Newsweek, inciting impulsive violence that is done 
on a case-by-case basis.
  I think sooner or later we are going to have to do something about 
it, try to at least do all we can to make the American people aware of 
the bias we have in the media.
  I have had occasion, since I am on the Armed Services Committee, to 
probably be over in Iraq more than anyone else. On one trip, the 
Presiding Officer was with me. All of us who have been over there will 
remember that every time we arrive the first thing the troops say to us 
is: Why is it the American people don't understand what we are doing? 
Don't they realize our country is under the greatest threat it has ever 
had throughout its history? And don't they understand the resolve we 
have and the fact that we know we are risking our lives? And I say to 
them: They do know it, in spite of the fact that the media is wrong.
  There is a lieutenant colonel by the name of Tim Ryan. He was in the 
1st Calvary in Iraq. He actually led a group into Fallujah. I am going 
to read one quote he made. He finally could not take it any longer. He 
said:

       The inaccurate picture they paint [talking about the media] 
     has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. 
     The result is a further erosion of international support for 
     the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the 
     insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening 
     our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced 
     reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq 
     are aiding and abetting the enemy.

  They are aiding and abetting the enemy. And to have this thing 
revived on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse--by

[[Page 21945]]

the way, I have to say this: Long before the public was even made aware 
of it, the military had gone in, taken the necessary precautions, and 
had prosecuted those who were guilty. That was done long before this 
came out in public.
  Now, as far as the war is concerned, I think it is very important for 
people to know we are being very victorious in the areas. It is a tough 
asymmetrical type of threat, an enemy we have never had before.
  But I would suggest that on one of the trips when I went there, we 
spent the entire time in the Sunni Triangle. The Sunnis are supposed to 
be the ones who do not like us. I can recall a general in Fallujah who 
at one time had been the brigade commander for Saddam Hussein. He hated 
Americans. Then, when he became the brigade commander for the Iraqi 
security forces, he started embedded training with our Marines. He 
became so affectionately involved with our marines that he looked me in 
the eyes and said: When they rotated me out, I cried. He loves 
Americans now. He loves the freedoms we are bringing to that country. 
He is joining in that fight.
  Do you ever hear about this in the media? No, you do not hear about 
it.
  At the same time, I was in Tikrit. Tikrit is the home of Saddam 
Hussein. At that time, I think most of us remember, the training 
headquarters in Tikrit for the Iraqi security forces was blown up, and 
there were 40 either killed or seriously injured. Those were all 
Iraqis. For every Iraqi who was killed or injured, their family 
replaced that Iraqi trainee with another member of their family. Do you 
hear about that in the media? No, you do not hear about that in the 
media.
  I can remember being in a Black Hawk helicopter, going some 50 feet 
off the ground, all throughout the Sunni Triangle, over almost every 
square foot, and seeing the kids down there. Something people do not 
realize is how close our troops have become to these people. A lot of 
times, when you send candy and cookies to your troops, you think they 
are eating them and all that. Do you know what they are doing? They are 
repackaging them, putting them in small packages, and when they go over 
an area in helicopters, they throw the packages down to the kids below. 
Those kids in the Sunni Triangle are waving American flags and jumping 
up and down and cheering. But you do not see that from the media.
  I have to say, I do appreciate the fact that Bill O'Reilly, last 
night, did draw the public's attention to this judge who is wanting to 
release more pictures of prisoner abuse. But I am critical of Bill 
O'Reilly because he said no one in Congress wants to do anything about 
it. No one wants to touch it. I want to remind him--and in doing so, I 
am not going to talk about what I did--but back in February of 2004, I 
did complain about the fact that we were doing a great disservice to 
our troops by giving the Iraqis, giving the terrorists, giving the 
Middle East, giving the American people the wrong picture of what is 
going on there.
  I said I was not outraged. Let's keep in mind, in Abu Ghraib these 
prisoners were terrorists, these people killed Americans. And here we 
were worrying about: Are we treating them properly?
  I remember Zell Miller defended me. Nobody else would do that at that 
time. I will read to you what he said, Zell Miller. You know all about 
Zell Miller from the State of Georgia. He said:

       Mr. President, here we go again, rushing to give aid and 
     comfort to our enemies--pushing, pulling, shoving, and 
     leaping over one another to assign blame and point the finger 
     at ``America the terrible,'' lining up in long lines at the 
     microphones to offer apologies to those poor, pitiful Iraqi 
     prisoners.

  Of course, I do not condone all the things that went on in that 
prison, but I for one refuse to join in this national act of contrition 
over it. Those who are wringing their hands and shouting so loudly for 
heads to roll over this seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact 
that someone's head has rolled, that of another innocent American 
brutally murdered by terrorists.

       Why is it there is more indignation over a photo of a 
     prisoner with underwear on his head than over the video of a 
     young American with no head at all? Why is it some in this 
     country still do not get it, that we are at war, a war 
     against terrorists who are plotting to kill us every day, 
     terrorists who will murder Americans at any time, any place, 
     any chance they get?
       Yet here we are, America on its knees in front of our 
     enemy, begging for their forgiveness over the mistreatment of 
     prisoners, showing our enemy and the world once again how 
     easily America can get sidetracked, how easily America can 
     turn against itself.
       Yes, a handful of soldiers went too far with their 
     interrogation. Clearly some of them were not properly trained 
     to handle such duty, but the way to deal with this is with 
     swift and sure punishment and immediate and better training.
       There also needs to be more careful screening of who it is 
     we put in these kinds of sensitive situations--and no one 
     wants to hear this, and I am reluctant to say it, but there 
     should also be some serious questioning of having male and 
     female soldiers serving side by side in these kinds of 
     military missions. Instead, I worry that the . . . ``hand 
     wringers of America,'' will add to their membership and 
     continue to bash our country ad nauseam and, in doing so, 
     hand over more innocent Americans to the enemy on a silver 
     platter.
       So I stand with Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma who stated that 
     he is more outraged by the outrage than by the treatment of 
     those prisoners.

  I appreciated the fact that he came to my aid and made that statement 
back on May 13, 2004. The truth is out there. The media is not giving 
an accurate picture.
  I will hold this up. This shows the number of editorials from the New 
York Times and the Washington Post: The number of editorials that 
covered the some 400,000 people tortured to death, put in mass graves 
in Iraq, a total of three editorials were written. The number of 
editorials since March of 2001 about the beheading of hostages by 
terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere, including Nicholas Berg and Daniel 
Pearl, was eight. Yet the number of editorials since March of 2004 
about U.S. detainee policies, including Abu Ghraib, was 90. If that 
isn't bias.
  We need to do something to stop this. This needs to be appealed to 
the Supreme Court. I am going to be advising the Secretary of Defense 
of my feelings. Hopefully we can save some American lives by not 
reliving the pictures and this issue that has already cost many 
American lives. If we actually show these pictures and revive it again, 
it will be aiding and abetting the enemy, and American lives will be 
lost.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Allen). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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