News Conference with House Democratic Leaders
NEWS CONFERENCE WITH HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS
INVESTIGATIONS INTO ABUSE OF PRISONERS AT ABU GHRAIB PRISON IN IRAQ AND ELSEWHERE
June 23, 2004 Wednesday
PARTICIPANTS: HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA); REPRESENTATIVE JANE HARMAN (D-CA); REPRESENTATIVE HENRY WAXMAN (D-CA); REPRESENTATIVE JOHN CONYERS (D-MI); REPRESENTATIVE IKE SKELTON (D-MO);
LOCATION: HOUSE RADIO/TV GALLERY, WASHINGTON, D.C.
BODY:
REP. PELOSI: (In progress) -- president's counsel and the Department of Defense articulate a breathtaking sweep of the president's powers without any restraints. It is imperative that Congress independently investigate the underlying facts and to examine the administration's policies and legal authorities that may have led, either directly or indirectly, to the acts at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
The resolutions to be introduced today by Mr. Waxman and Mr. Conyers are necessary for the House to exercise its constitutional oversight responsibility. It's long past time for us to carry out our responsibility.
These two gentlemen will be presenting their plan for these investigations. With their permission, though, I would like to yield to our distinguished ranking member of the Intelligence Committee because her bill is currently on the floor, and I want to invite her for a brief comment before we hear from the two committees of jurisdiction for the investigations.
I'm pleased to yield to Congresswoman Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. Congresswoman.
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REP. PELOSI: Thank you very much, Congresswoman Harman. And I understand that your schedule is dictated by the floor. So thank you for your great leadership and your excellent presentation.
Congressman Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, has been a leader in telling the truth to the American people. He has been a very, very valuable resource in many aspects of government, domestic and international, and his service on this particular issue, which strikes right to the heart of American values, is one for which we are all deeply in his debt. It's the purpose of our coming together here this morning, the lead that he has taken in these investigations. And so it's with great gratitude on behalf of the American people, and really the members of Congress, that I bring Congressman Henry Waxman to the podium.
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REP. PELOSI: Thank you very much, Congressman Waxman, for your presentation and for your exceptional leadership in this regard.
I want to now turn to the distinguished ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and in doing so not only acknowledge his great leadership on behalf of the national security of our country, but also to reference the statement by Chairman Hunter.
Chairman Hunter in the committee, when asked that-about an investigation, he said that the Taguba report was sufficient, that the full report is now available to members, and that the members should review it first before asking any additional-for additional information, since the Taguba report will likely answer any questions they may have.
Well, General Taguba himself has made it clear that his report is limited in scope and did not investigate the activities of the chain of command at the Pentagon and at the White House. The issues, in fact, have not-have gone-have since gone far beyond the Taguba report. And unfortunately, the initial partial and selected production of the Taguba report underscores the need for Congress to undertake its own investigation. We must have a full investigation.
Now I'd like to yield the floor again to the distinguished ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, Mr. Skelton. Thank you, Mr. Skelton.
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REP. PELOSI: Thank you very much, Mr. Skelton. I want to echo your words of commendation and pride that we take in the service of our men and women in uniform, and join you in expressing appreciation for their courage, their patriotism and the sacrifice that they are willing to make. And in their name, we must clear the record.
One of the reasons we had some controversy over a recent resolution on the floor about Abu Ghraib was because our Republican colleagues refused to put in there any consideration of contractors at Abu Ghraib, any investigation. So whatever they were talking about was strictly under the purview of the Armed Services Committee and the DOD. There is concern about these contractors, and they would fall under the Department of Justice and the Judiciary Committee in the House.
For this and many other reasons, I'm very pleased that we're joined by the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, Congressman Conyers, a champion for American values throughout his career in the Congress, and a great leader in his committee of jurisdiction, the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Conyers.
I don't know if that's his whole speech that he's going to bring up to the podium, but he'll inform us.
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REP. PELOSI: Thank you very much, Mr. Conyers.
Any questions?
Q Madame Leader -- (off mike) -- what was inadequate about the Taguba report? What's inadequate about the documents released yesterday -- (off mike) -- that you hope to change?
REP. PELOSI: Well, this investigation is about more than those two issues. But General Taguba himself had said that that is not what-in his own-he made clear that his-in his report that it was limited in scope, did not investigate the activities of the chain of command at the Pentagon and at the White House. And the issues and facts that have come forth since have gone far beyond the Taguba report. So the Taguba report is a starting place, but it is by no means exhaustive of the concerns, as well as the investigation that he conducted.
We're only now seeing what they released last night. And you heard what Congressman Conyers said about the limitation.
Q These are the same documents that were released at the White House?
REP. PELOSI: I don't know. Has anyone else received any documents since last night?
REP. CONYERS: Well, I think these are what the ranking member, Skelton, was referring to. I presume they sent -- (aside) -- Were you included?
Q I'm just wondering if these are the same documents that were released at the White House yesterday.
REP. CONYERS: Yes, I believe so. They were sent over. And, you know --
REP. PELOSI: We know of no other documents that have been released.
REP. CONYERS: Exactly.
REP. PELOSI: We are constantly asking. But that's not the way it should be. We should have a formalized investigation so that we all can stipulate to a set of facts, and then go from there as to what our course of action should be.
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REP. PELOSI: And these documents would by no means be exhaustive of the questions that we would have or the airing of the views that we need to have to have a full, fair investigation that honors the service of our men and women in uniform and answers the questions that the American people and indeed the world have about our conduct there.
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REP. PELOSI: Yes, sir?
Q I'd like to know what you all think about the Bush administration's argument concerning the Geneva Convention that the detainees are not a part of the -- (off mike) -- parties -- (off mike) -- on the convention and also many of them may not have been in uniform, which may also exempt them from the Geneva accord protections.
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REP. PELOSI: That is why I called upon President Bush to disavow the memorandum that addressed the Geneva Conventions and, in fact, domestic statutes governing torture, prohibiting torture. That memorandum effectively said that the president is the law. "L'etat, c'est moi," a monarch once said. We don't have a monarch in our country. The person is not the law, and this, I think, was a shameful document that said that anything is justified and the president could make those determinations to ignore the Geneva Conventions, and indeed, domestic statutes regarding torture and other abuses in that way. This is very, very dangerous. It goes to the fundamentals of a democracy if the president decides that anything he decides is justified and that he is the law.
Q (Off mike) -- involves keeping -- (off mike ) -- that he should be (given ?) -- I mean, just not say we're treating them as though they were -- (off mike)?
REP. PELOSI: As the distinction that Mr. Waxman has made, and I invite Mr. Conyers, if he wishes, to-when we had the resolution, you will recall that there were some of us who voted against the Abu Ghraib resolution for the-because the Republicans would not allow a discussion of the contractors. We really touched a nerve. We thought it was perhaps an oversight that they just talked about the military, and we said no, that we want to know what the role of the contractors were. And the message we got back was very harsh: we will not be discussing the contractors. That's a whole other turf that they did not want to go into, and we thought, well, now we have struck a nerve; there must be more to this than we even thought.
We just wanted to be inclusive of all the possible violators, but in fact, we struck upon a whole category of issues with them. And I think that our reputation in the world is not well served or enhanced by our saying that we can pick and choose when we want to honor the Geneva Conventions, and they are specific, and we will honor them specifically.
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REP. PELOSI: Any other questions?
Q Madame Leader, this morning Senator Zell Miller has said that by focusing too much on the prison abuse scandal, Democrats are giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and should be focusing on the beheading of hostages and things like that. What would you say to people like Zell Miller?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I would say that I completely disagree. I certainly-as I have in my statements, called upon every opinion leader in the world to denounce the beheadings. This is behavior outside the circle of civilized human behavior, and it should be acknowledged as such by leaders in the Arab world as well as the rest of the world.
But that does not mean that we ignore what is happening at Abu Ghraib. So I disagree respectfully with Senator Miller on that score.
Q It looks like there are about 30 or 40 legislative days left this year. So we're talking about a select committee that would be next year, with a Congress that's in a new session, and therefore, we're talking about hearings in March, if you get right down to it.
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REP. PELOSI: In fact, I think there's a great value to our addressing this expeditiously. If the administration would cooperate, then we could get to the point, get the information and come clean on Abu Ghraib.
It would only be the obstacles that they would put up that would prolong this. And why? To what end? This is a sadness and a sorrow for our country, and we want to take it off the table in the world by telling them we recognize that this was not acceptable behavior.
But in order to address it, we have to define it and know what it is. So with cooperation, this could be done in a timely fashion. And in fact, it would be healthier for our country to get it over quickly, in my view.
Yes, ma'am?
Q You said that you wanted this to be done in a bipartisan way.
REP. PELOSI: Yes.
Q So I was wondering if you could address what the makeup of the committee would be and if any Republicans are supporting the resolution.
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REP. PELOSI: Thank you all very much. Thank you.