FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 06, 2004

CONTACT: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider 202-226-7616

Pelosi Floor Statement on Resolution on Prisoner Abuse in Iraq

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this afternoon on the House floor on the Republican resolution on abuse of prisoners in Iraq.  Below are her remarks.

"Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday, Secretary Rumsfeld came to the Congress and he briefed Members of the House of Representatives on the situation in Iraq. He neglected to tell Members of Congress that the situation in Iraq included this most unfortunate, disgraceful situation in the prison. He withheld that information from the Congress of the United States when he had full knowledge of it and apparently had full knowledge for a while.

"Indeed, that very evening, 60 Minutes II broke the story, a story it had been working on for a while. So why was Congress the last to know, especially on a day when the Secretary was briefing the Congress on the situation in Iraq?

"The distinguished Chairman of the Committee on Armed Services has said repeatedly in the course of this debate that this information was made public in January by a public statement by General Kimmett. I do not know when that constituted keeping Congress informed; and if that is the standard, if a sentence that does not really explain the situation expressed in a press conference in Iraq meets the standard for informing Congress, then we are in a lot more trouble than we even thought.

"Please do not bring that up as an example of 'letting us know,' because I do not think anybody, even within the Administration, would have called that sufficient notification to Congress.

"Since last Thursday, when the Secretary of Defense withheld information from the Congress, the Senate has held robust hearings. They stopped in their tracks. They stopped the business of the Senate, which was the reauthorization of the Defense Act, and went into committee as the Committee on Armed Services because of the urgency of this matter. Yet this House had to be dragged kicking and screaming into having hearings on the subject. We should have hearings not only in the Committee on Armed Services, but in the Committee on International Relations. We should be having these hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary as well. We should be having these hearings in the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It touches so many jurisdictions in this House, because we must get to the bottom of this.

"So today we have this resolution that has come to the floor, missing an opportunity to send a very clear, forceful, values-based message to the world and to the American people about who we are and what we stand for and what we will not tolerate in the behavior of our people.

"We all agree that our troops, our men and women in uniform, and even the civilians over there, are courageous, patriotic, and have acted with great courage. They are willing to sacrifice their lives. We owe them our deepest gratitude and respect and our prayers. This resolution acknowledges that fact, and it is right to do so.

"Some U.S. personnel, military and civilian, abused Iraqi prisoners in ways that are shocking and reprehensible. The resolution acknowledges that fact and deplores it. Unfortunately, by including a number of clauses that seek to compare life in Iraq after the invasion with conditions that existed before, the resolution creates an inference that whatever post-invasion improvements exist, somehow they mitigate the abhorrent nature of the treatment of the prisoners. These 'whereases' have no place in the same resolution.

"The resolution should be focused tightly on the scandal and the need to find out why it occurred and who should be held accountable. Diffusing the focus conceals an important fact: this scandal increases the danger to our troops in Iraq, makes their mission more difficult to accomplish, and threatens the interests of the United States around the world.

"Even with a concerted effort in which a better-crafted resolution could have played an important part, it will be a very long time before the standing of the United States is restored in the eyes of the world, unless we face up to this matter.

"Congressional oversight of the war in Iraq has not been aggressive enough. The Administration's failure to provide accountability for its policies and an accounting of the money already provided has not been questioned adequately. Compounding that record of inaction by not investigating this matter thoroughly will be inexcusable.

"This resolution could have called clearly for congressional investigations, to include a review of the role that the U.S. civilian contractors and other civilians may have played in it. That suggestion was outright rejected by the Republicans, saying: 'We will not include the investigation and the contractors in this resolution; we will not add it.' And it begs the question, Why?

"Today, America has an opportunity to show the world our greatness by sending a message to the American people and to the world that we deplore this conduct, that we understand the significance of these abuses in the eyes of the Arab world, and that we will act to uncover the facts to find out who is responsible and to make sure that it will never happen again.

"Every opportunity we get, we will always offer our praise and gratitude to our troops. We could have done that in a resolution that would have had bipartisan support, because it was very important that we send a message to the Arab world that we do understand the significance of these abuses to them. This is very significant. But it has been lost in the resolution before us.

"Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the motion to recommit to be offered by Congressman Hoyer, which delivers a message that truly reflects America's values.

"It does so clearly and forcefully, and there is a reason for that. Congressman Hoyer has been a champion for human rights for as long as he has been in the Congress, and probably longer. His leadership on the Helsinki Commission, his bipartisan work on these issues, gives him standing and authority to speak in a way that clearly reflects America's values.

"The Republican resolution does not do that; the Hoyer motion to recommit does.

"Let us leave no doubt in the hearts and the minds of the world that we will live by the principles that we preach."

“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi