[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18708-18709]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     DANCING AROUND SERIOUS ISSUES AND AVOIDING OUR CONGRESSIONAL 
                            RESPONSIBILITIES

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, we have elevated to an art form here in 
Congress dancing around serious issues and avoiding our congressional 
responsibilities. Torture is a case in point,

[[Page 18709]]

not extreme interrogation, but let's call it what it is: torture.
  At the same time the President was asking Congress to rubber-stamp 
his policies of torture, the military was saying that torture does not 
give good information, and they were against it. Torture puts our 
troops at risk in giving our enemies the green light to torture our 
people. Torture lowers our image, our moral standing around the world.
  In yesterday's headlines across America and across the world, there 
was the story of the Canadian citizen we kidnapped and we sent to 
Syria, a country on our terrorist watch list, so he could be tortured. 
His ordeal did not end for a year. Three years later, he is walking 
around a free man, never charged and Congress, spineless, has not taken 
action to stop this barbaric, illegal and immoral practice. It is time 
for us, as we stumble towards adjournment, to deal with something 
meaningful, investigate this outrage, and legislate protections.

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