Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 Veto Message From the President of the United States

Floor Speech

Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 Veto Message From the President of the United States

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank our chairman for yielding me this time and for his great leadership on this issue, and for making it clear that this veto was about torture.

In December, I said that restrictions on the use of torture represented a battle for the soul of our country. Because the President chose to veto this critically important piece of legislation, that battle continues today.

The way we treat our prisoners is a fundamental measure of our character. It is what separates great nations with moral authority to lead from other lesser nations.

The President's national security team has now publicly confirmed that the CIA waterboarded detainees. Incredibly, President Bush and his advisers insist that they have the legal authority to do so again and that they don't consider it torture. These claims have damaged our Nation's moral authority and credibility around the world.

There is a simple way to restore some of our moral authority. It is in this bill in the form of a provision mandating that all intelligence agencies and those under contract or subcontract with our intelligence agencies comply with the U.S. Army Field Manual on interrogation guidelines.

The interrogation rules in the Army Field Manual have served us well, but don't just take my word for it. Generals, intelligence professionals, diplomats, religious leaders, and foreign leaders, many of them our closest allies, have all spoken out against the use of coercive techniques such as waterboarding.

Consider the words of Navy Rear Admiral Mark Buzby, Commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, which is already required to comply with the Army Field Manual, who recently stated that ``we get so much dependable information from just sitting down and having a conversation and treating them like human beings in a businesslike manner.'' Or what about the advice of the Republican Presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, who, before changing his mind and joining with President Bush to oppose this bill and with it Congress' effort to ban torture, stated that the issue of interrogation was ``a defining issue'' and that interrogation should be ``humane and yet effective.'' And that an Army general in Iraq had told him that ``the techniques under the Army Field Manual are working and working effectively, and he didn't think they need to do anything else.''

In December, Congress made its voice known and passed this critically important bill. With one flick of his pen, the President tried to take our voice way. I believe it is time to say once and for all ``no'' to techniques like waterboarding, ``no'' to torture, and ``no'' to this President's attempt to legitimize his administration's political legacy at the cost of this Nation's moral authority.

I urge all my colleagues to join with me in voting to override the President's veto.

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