Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2475, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2475, INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 21, 2005)
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule.
Mr. Speaker, on June 8, the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the ranking member on the Committee on Government Reform, came before the Committee on Rules asking that two amendments be made in order. One amendment calls for a select committee to be established in Congress to investigate abuses of detainees held under U.S. military custody. The other amendment establishes an independent commission for the same purpose.
Mr. Speaker, these are matters that merit the attention of this House and deserve to be debated and voted upon by the Members of this body. But the majority party on the Rules Committee feels otherwise. The Republican leadership believes it is better to sweep these matters under the rug, hide them, forget about them, but certainly not investigate them. It makes no difference whether such an inquiry takes place inside the Congress or outside the Congress, any form of independent investigation is out of the question.
But questions about the abuse and torture of detainees simply will not go away, whether it is Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib or the countless other prisons, jails and detention facilities under U.S. control in Afghanistan and Iraq. Every week brings new revelations of abuses.
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame our soldiers for these abuses. It is their leaders who have failed. It is the leaders up and down the chain of command whose incompetence and arrogance have led to a systemic breakdown of standards and codes of conduct that our military has lived by since its creation.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a few lines from the June 13 edition of Newsweek. The article is entitled ``Good Intentions Gone Bad.'' In it, Rod Nordland, Newsweek's Baghdad bureau chief, who is departing after 2 years in Iraq, shares a few final thoughts. He writes:
``Two years ago I went to Iraq as an unabashed believer in toppling Saddam Hussein. I knew his regime well from previous visits. WMDs or no, ridding the world of Saddam would surely be for the best, and America's good intentions would carry the day. What went wrong? A lot, but the biggest turning point was the Abu Ghraib scandal. Since April 2004, the liberation of Iraq has become a desperate exercise in damage control. The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib alienated a broad swath of the Iraqi public. On top of that, it didn't work. There is no evidence that all the mistreatment and humiliation saved a single American life or led to the capture of any major terrorist, despite claims by the military that the prison produced actionable intelligence. The most shocking thing about Abu Ghraib was not the behavior of U.S. troops but the incompetence of their leaders.''
Mr. Speaker, this is why we should be debating the Waxman amendments. We cannot run and hide from this abuse. It haunts us, Mr. Speaker. It haunts us. If ever a matter needed the light of day, it is this one.
Oppose this rule. Support debate on the Waxman amendments. Restore America's credibility on human rights and military conduct.
Mr. Speaker, I submit for the RECORD articles from Newsweek and from the Baltimore Sun.
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