| Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, delivered the following remarks today before voting to override the President's veto of the Intelligence Authorization Bill. The veto override fell short of the two-thirds majority necessary to overturn the President's decision. The Intelligence bill would have prohibited the CIA from using waterboarding and limited the agency's interrogation methods to those listed in the Army field manual. "Madame Speaker,
In December, I said that this bill's restrictions on coercive interrogations represented a battle for the soul of our country. Because the President chose to veto this critically important legislation, that battle continues today.
The way we treat our prisoners, even those who wish us harm, is the ultimate measure of our character. It is what separates great nations with the 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 advisors 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.
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's effort to ban torture, stated that the issue of interrogation was a quote "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 away.
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.
Please join with me in voting to override the President's veto." | |
