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Military Commissions Act of 2006
Washington,
Sep 27, 2006 -
Mr. Speaker, we now know what the Administration wanted to hide from the American people: that the consensus view of all 16 intelligence agencies is that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse, not better; that it has fueled the jihadist movement and made us less safe, and not more safe.
The Bush administration was wrong about weapons of mass destruction. They were wrong about alleged collaboration between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and they are wrong about this bill.
This bill will weaken, not strengthen, our national security. They are wrong because this bill will place our troops in Iraq and elsewhere around the world in greater danger of torture, both today and in future conflicts. They are wrong because this bill will further erode our already tarnished credibility and moral standing around the world.
Let us always remember that our strength flows not only from the force of our military but from the power of our example. And they are wrong because we have learned the hard way that information extracted through torture and extreme coercion can be unreliable.
Remember when Secretary Powell at the United Nations told the world that Saddam Hussein had mobile bioweapons labs? That information came from a person that we turned over to Egypt who was tortured, and the CIA has since acknowledged that information was false, and yet that was important information that was used as part of our argument to go to war in Iraq.
This is a defining moment for our Congress and our country. It will define who we are as a people and what we stand for, and yet it gives the President too much of a blank check to unilaterally decide that answer for all of us. It gives the President the authority to unilaterally define what constitutes specific acts of torture. It gives the President the authority to unilaterally decide who can be detained as an enemy combatant, including American citizens, and, therefore, send them into a legal limbo.
Mr. Speaker, when we take very important decisions in the name of the American people, we better get it right. This bill gets it wrong.
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Congressman Chris Van Hollen
