WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) today released the following statement regarding evidence of torture at Abu Ghraib prison and the Republican sponsored resolution that simply asks for an internal Department of Defense investigation. Rep. Woolsey voted against the Republican resolution because “we must get to the bottom of this scandal, but we must do it in the right way,” said Rep. Woolsey. “To prevent this from happening again, we must have a Congressional investigation into the role of private contractors, as well as service members, and we must apologize directly to the people of Iraq in order to work towards rebuilding good will with the international community.”

The following is Rep. Woolsey’s statement:

“War is devastating and terrifying. But even in war there is no place for the abuse and torture of prisoners. The vast majority of soldiers in Iraq are performing courageously and honorably, upholding the high standards of the U.S. military. But the abuse inflicted by a few soldiers will likely be responsible for much ill will around the world. What’s worse, I fear that it will embolden our enemies to commit further acts of terrorism against the United States.

We must get to the bottom of this scandal, but we must do it in the right way. H. Res. 627 does not adequately address these abuses because it doesn’t go far enough.

Instead of encouraging an investigation through the Department of Defense, this resolution should call for Congressional investigations to investigate the role of both servicemembers and private civilian contractors who may have played a role in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war. The military should not investigate itself in this matter, because we don’t yet know if the military leadership itself bears some responsibility for these atrocities.

We also owe an apology to the people of Iraq, and to all the countries around the world that look to the United States for leadership and guidance in the area of democracy. This resolution offers no apology. Instead, it absolves the Congress of blame, claiming that we weren’t informed of the abuses while they were happening.

But the fact that we weren’t informed should not stop this body from offering our sincerest regret that military procedures failed to stop this kind of abuse from occurring. Are we so arrogant that we cannot apologize for some of the most heinous acts that members of our military have ever committed?