May 17, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H3071 emergency room, you do not have to This is not on the back of the doc- with regard to an employer filing of a give them extensive treatment for dis- tors. The doctors are freed from re- notice of contest following the issuance eases that are not at that moment life- sponsibility on that, because they no of a citation by the Occupational Safe- threatening. longer have to treat anything, unless ty and Health Administration; for con- Thus, they will take care of an illegal someone’s life is threatened at that sideration of the bill (H.R. 2729) to whose life is being threatened, but they moment. amend the Occupational Safety and will not have to take care and spend Let me add one other thing. If they Health Act of 1970 to provide for great- $300,000 or $400,000 for cancer treat- do treat an illegal immigrant in an er efficiency at the Occupational Safe- ments, and this happens, for all types emergency situation, my bill insists ty and Health Review Commission; for of transplants of organs, for hundreds that we go to the employer, because consideration of the bill (H.R. 2730) to of thousands and millions of dollars that is the only question that hospital amend the Occupational Safety and worth of health care that illegals are has to ask, who is your employer? And Health Act of 1970 to provide for an getting right now. if that employer has not done due dili- independent review of citations issued My bill says they do not have to do gence to see if he is hiring an illegal by the Occupational Safety and Health that. If they want to, they can, but immigrant, that employer has to pay Administration; for consideration of they do not have to do it. This legisla- for the emergency health care costs of the bill (H.R. 2731) to amend the Occu- tion is vital to make sure that the pool the illegal immigrant. Do you get that? pational Safety and Health Act of 1970 of money available to the American The taxpayers are off the hook. to provide for the award of attorney’s people for their health care goes to the What has happened is, this bill, fees and costs to very small employers American people and not to illegals. which would be an of incredible impor- when they prevail in litigation prompt- It also says that if someone is illegal tance to the middle-class Americans, ed by the issuance of citations by the and they come in and they are an this bill, which strives to protect us Occupational Safety and Health Ad- emergency and they are taken care at from having our limited health care ministration; and for consideration of the hospital, when they are seeking dollars being drained away by people the bill (H.R. 2432) to amend the Paper- compensation from the fund, they just who have come here illegally, this bill work Reduction Act and titles 5 and 31, have to make that same information is being attacked by the Chamber of United States Code, to reform Federal that they are collecting in order to be Commerce. It is being attacked by big paperwork and regulatory processes, compensated, they have to make that business on one end, and being at- which was referred to the House Cal- available in a computer for the Immi- tacked by the liberal left organizations gration and Naturalization Service and endar and ordered to be printed. that control the Democratic Party on the Department of Homeland Security. f the other. What we have heard again are bogus IRAQ WATCH arguments this morning, over and over I suggest tomorrow the vote on H.R. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. again, that this is going to increase the 3722 is one to watch, and whose side BLACKBURN). Under the Speaker’s an- paperwork of doctors; it is going to you are on will be determined by how make doctors policemen. they vote on that issue. nounced policy of January 7, 2003, the Not true. The bill we are talking f gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. DELAHUNT) is recognized for 60 min- about only says the information, that REPORT ON RESOLUTION PRO- they will collect anyway in order to utes. VIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I will get compensated by this fund, must be H.R. 4359, CHILD CREDIT PRESER- made available to the INS and the De- shortly be joined by my colleagues, VATION AND EXPANSION ACT OF who, on a weekly basis, have come to partment of Homeland Security. They 2004 are not being turned in by anybody, it the floor of the House to discuss events is just available. The other government Mr. DREIER, from the Committee on occurring in the Middle East, specifi- agencies at that point have to take Rules, submitted a privileged report cally in Iraq and in Afghanistan. We over. There is no reporting on the part (Rept. No. 108–496) on the resolution (H. have called ourselves the Iraq Watch, of the doctors. Res. 644) providing for consideration of in an effort to have a conversation to So we hear these bogus arguments the bill (H.R. 4359) to amend the Inter- illuminate and educate not just our- over and over again, as if people are nal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase selves, but those who are interested, as going to bring some type of contagious the child tax credit, which was referred I think most people are, in these par- diseases into our country if we do not to the House Calendar and ordered to ticular matters. treat every illegal alien that comes be printed. It is clearly no secret, and it is a into our emergency health care. f most disturbing situation, that we Let me note this: If you want to see REPORT ON RESOLUTION PRO- have a deteriorating situation in Iraq. diseases that will spread in our country VIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF One only has to remember the initial being brought into our country from H.R. 2728, OCCUPATIONAL SAFE- estimates of the cost that were put overseas, just make sure that every- TY AND HEALTH SMALL BUSI- forth by the White House. I think the body around the world knows that we NESS DAY IN COURT ACT OF range that was suggested by the Dep- are now paying for illegal aliens’ 2004, H.R. 2729, OCCUPATIONAL uty Secretary of Defense, Mr. health care in this country. No matter SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW Wolfowitz, was from $30 billion to $60 who gets into the hospital, they will be COMMISSION EFFICIENCY ACT billion. taken care of. They will bring commu- OF 2004, H.R. 2730, OCCUPATIONAL b 2200 nicable diseases from all over the SAFETY AND HEALTH INDE- world, and that is what is happening When the then-Chief Economic Ad- PENDENT REVIEW OF OSHA CI- right now. viser to President Bush, Larry Lind- We need to instead come to grips TATIONS ACT OF 2004, H.R. 2731, say, indicated that in his judgment the with what my legislation does, that if OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND range could be from $100 billion to $200 someone is indeed here illegally and HEALTH SMALL EMPLOYER AC- billion, he was eased out because there they are dissipating the use and the CESS TO JUSTICE ACT OF 2004, was a sense that that was not a real- amount of money that is available for AND H.R. 2432, PAPERWORK AND istic number. Now, of course, we are our own citizens or their health care, REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS currently at the figure of $150 billion, that illegal alien should be sent home. ACT OF 2004 and that does not include future esti- They should go home to their home Mr. DREIER, from the Committee on mates, which again according to recent country. That is what H.R. 3722 says. Rules, submitted a privileged report reports just simply is for the military The information will be available to (Rept. No. 108–497) on the resolution (H. presence of American troops in support the Department of Homeland Security Res. 645), providing for consideration of for other military personnel there. and the Immigration and Naturaliza- the bill (H.R. 2728) to amend the Occu- That is an additional 50 or $75 billion. tion Service, and they will proceed pational Safety and Health Act of 1970 And of course that does not include the from there. to provide for adjudicative flexibility cost of reconstruction, both for Iraq

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17MY7.102 H17PT1 H3072 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 17, 2004 and for Afghanistan. But, obviously, on the desire to control oil, we must I guess this is a question that I would most importantly is the loss of life, acknowledge that we have a problem have for the President, for the Vice particularly American personnel, both that has to be addressed. Let me just President, and for the Secretary of De- military and civilian. The number now recite some of those numbers: 51 per- fense: Why on February 27, months be- is well in excess of 700. That of course cent of the people in Russia believe fore the attack on the homeland, why does not account for the men and that that was our primary motive; 58 was a map being presented at a Na- women in our military who have been percent of the people in France; 60 per- tional Security Council meeting wounded. cent of the people in Germany; 54 per- divvying up the oil reserves of Iraq? Many Members of this body have cent of the people in Pakistan. In Tur- That, I daresay and will submit, is a been to Walter Reed Hospital and to key the number is 64 percent. In Jor- question, Mr. Speaker, that should be Bethesda Naval Hospital and met with dan it was 71 percent. And yet we speak answered by the Secretary, by the Na- the men and women there who have of a certain moral authority. But it has tional Security Adviser, by the Vice suffered wounds, egregious wounds, become clear that the world does not President, and by the President. That that will clearly impact their future see us in that lens. They believe our is a question that cannot linger, that and will alter irrevocably the quality motives are much more crass. And cannot go unanswered, particularly of life that they will enjoy for the rest when these numbers are combined with when a majority of people in countries of their lives. comments and observations and revela- that are our traditional allies have I know that I have attended in my tions by senior administration offi- concluded that our main interest in district the funerals of two young men, cials, they are reinforced. Iraq is not to bring democracy, is not Sergeant Caldwell and Corporal Jeff For those of you that have not had to save lives, but is to secure oil for Burgess, who gave their lives in Iraq. the opportunity to read ‘‘The Price of our energy needs. Furthermore, there was a universal Loyalty,’’ which is a book regarding And, again, let me remind my friends echo of support and sympathy for the the tenure of the former Secretary of who are here, I have been joined by my United States in the aftermath of our Treasury, Paul O’Neill, let me com- colleagues, the gentleman from Penn- national tragedy on September 11. I mend that book to you; and I would sylvania (Mr. HOEFFEL), the gentleman think we all remember the headline in specifically direct your attention to from Hawaii (Mr. ABERCROMBIE), and the French newspaper, Le Monde, that page 96 of that book. Because Sec- the ranking member on the Committee screamed, very poignantly and elo- retary O’Neill, a traditional Repub- on the Judiciary, the gentleman from quently the day after 9–11, that ‘‘Today lican widely regarded in business cir- Michigan (Mr. CONYERS), let me remind We Are All Americans.’’ cles, someone who served his country ourselves that we are losing inter- It is clear that there was not just in the Reagan administration and in national support. And I am convinced sympathy, but a commitment by coun- Bush One, reveals an anecdote that I that many of the questions that the tries all over the world to assist our ef- find disturbing. Let me read for a mo- rest of the world has is based on re- forts to end once and for all the ment. O’Neill had seen ‘‘brewing a bat- ports such as this and have a potential scourge of global terrorism. Unfortu- tle since the National Security Council to undermine not just our credibility nately, much of that international sup- meeting on January 30.’’ and our moral authority, but to under- port has eroded. And now the motives Let me interrupt the excerpt that I mine our national security if we are of the United States are being called will quote to inform my colleagues and going to do something in terms of into question, and not just in the Mid- the viewing audience that this was 1 international terrorism. east but all over the world. week after the inauguration after There was a recent poll that was George W. Bush. One week. The anec- done by one of the premier polling dote itself that he reveals occurs Feb- b 2215 groups in this country, the Zogby poll- ruary 27, less than maybe 5 weeks, Because if the world concludes, and if ing group, and it was conducted among after the President was inaugurated. we do not respond that this is our mo- the elite in Latin America, the eco- O’Neill: ‘‘It was Powell and his mod- tivation, they will turn their backs on nomic elite which traditionally had erates at the State Department versus us. When this is all combined with ob- been supportive of American policy. hardliners like Rumsfeld, CHENEY, and viously many other issues that are out There was no attempt to interview or Wolfowitz who were already planning there, I dare say we have a serious survey those that had traditionally the next war in Iraq in the shape of a problem. been hostile to American interests or post-Saddam country.’’ Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, will the who have disagreed with our policies. Now, let us remember, this is before gentleman yield. What I find remarkable was that of the our national tragedy on 9–11, and this Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gen- six countries that were surveyed, and is not coming from outside. This is not tleman from Michigan. they range from Argentina to Brazil to an opinion being offered by a Member Venezuela to a Central American coun- of the House. This is being offered by (Mr. CONYERS asked and was given try, that the negative opinion of the the former Secretary who was present permission to revise and extend his re- United States Government, the nega- at this particular meeting of the Na- marks, and include extraneous mate- tive opinion of the United States Gov- tional Security Council on February 27, rial.) ernment exceeded 87 percent. That is 2001. Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank particularly disturbing, because I ‘‘Documents were being prepared by the gentleman so much for allowing think we can all agree, Mr. Speaker, the Defense Intelligence Agency,’’ this intervention, and I begin by com- that we need the international commu- Rumsfeld’s intelligence arm, ‘‘mapping mending my colleagues from Pennsyl- nity and its support if we are going to Iraq’s oil fields and exploration areas, vania and Hawaii and the gentleman end terrorism. If we are going to pro- and listing companies that might be in- from Massachusetts (Mr. DELAHUNT). tect our homeland, cooperation is abso- terested in leveraging the precious It is my intention to offer into this lutely essential. It is absolutely crit- asset.’’ Obviously he means oil. ‘‘One discussion The New Yorker article en- ical. But now American motives are document headed ’Foreign Suitors For titled The Gray Zone by Seymour suspect. Iraqi Oil Field Contracts’ lists compa- Hersh, which raises one of these other There was a recent poll that was nies from 30 countries, their special- incidents that the gentleman from done, it was done by the Pew Founda- ties, bidding histories and in some Massachusetts (Mr. DELAHUNT) has re- tion and the numbers are startling. cases their particular areas of inter- ferred to, and that is, the Abu Ghraib Majorities in seven nations believe ests. An attached document maps Iraq prison in Iraq and the ongoing furor that our intervention in Iraq was moti- with markings for supergiant oil fields, that has taken place around the world. vated by a desire to control Mideast other oil fields earmarked for produc- I would like to ask my colleagues in oil. Clearly, there are few Americans tion-sharing while demarking the the course of our discussion this that accept that premise. But when one largely undeveloped southwest of the evening whether they feel a need for an reads the list of nations that believe country into nine blocks to be des- investigation conducted from the out- that our intervention was based simply ignated for future exploration.’’ side as the 9/11 Commission has, which

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17MY7.105 H17PT1 May 17, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H3073 it recently concluded, the Warren Com- Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more the N.S.A.—to get pre-approval in place. mission in terms of the John F. Ken- intelligence about the growing insurgency in Just say the code word and go.’’ The oper- nedy assassination, because this prob- Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming ation had across-the-board approval from the details of this account last week, said Rumsfeld and from Condoleezza Rice, the na- lem is beginning to tarnish our Na- that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s tional-security adviser. President Bush was tion’s war against terrorism, and with- long-standing desire to wrest control of informed of the existence of the program, the out a full and complete and impartial America’s clandestine and paramilitary op- former intelligence official said. investigation, we will add another way erations from the C.I.A. The people assigned to the program worked of undermining our national moral au- Rumsfeld, during appearances last week by the book, the former intelligence official thority. before Congress to testify about Abu Ghraib, told me. They created code words, and re- I just wanted to point out that it is was precluded by law from explicitly men- cruited, after careful screening, highly tioning highly secret matters in an unclassi- trained commandos and operatives from mentioned in this article that will be fied session. But he conveyed the message America’s elite forces—Navy SEALs, the reprinted that, ‘‘Rumsfeld’s goal was to that he was telling the public all that he Army’s Delta Force, and the C.I.A.’s para- get a capability in place to take on a knew about the story. He said, ‘‘Any sugges- military experts. They also asked some basic high-value target, a standup group to tion that there is not a full, deep awareness questions: ‘‘Do the people working the prob- hit quickly,’ a former high-level intel- of what has happened, and the damage it has lem have to use aliases? Yes. Do we need ligence official told me. ‘He got all the done, I think, would be a misunderstanding.’’ dead drops for the mail? Yes. No traceability agencies together, the CIA and the The senior C.I.A. official, asked about Rums- and no budget. And some special-access pro- feld’s testimony and that of Stephen grams are never fully briefed to Congress.’’ NSA, to get pre-approval in place. Just Cambone, his Under-Secretary for Intel- In theory, the operation enabled the Bush say the code word and go.’ The oper- ligence, said, ‘‘Some people think you can Administration to respond immediately to ation had across-the-board approval bullshit anyone.’’ time-sensitive intelligence: commandos from Rumsfeld and from Condoleeza The Abu Ghraib story began, in a sense, crossed borders without visas and could in- Rice, the national security adviser. just weeks after the September 11, 2001, at- terrogate terrorism suspects deemed too im- President Bush was informed of the ex- tacks, with the American bombing of Af- portant for transfer to the military’s facili- istence of the program, the former in- ghanistan. Almost from the start, the Ad- ties at Guanta´ namo, Cuba. They carried out ministration’s search for Al Qaeda members telligence official said.’’ instant interrogations—using force if nec- in the war zone, and its worldwide search for essary—at secret C.I.A. detention centers Here, ‘‘Rumsfeld reacted in his usual terrorists, came up against major command- scattered around the world. The intelligence direct fashion: he authorized the estab- and-control problems. For example, combat would be relayed to the SAP command cen- lishment of a highly secret program forces that had Al Qaeda targets in sight had ter in the Pentagon in real time, and sifted that was given blanket advance ap- to obtain legal clearance before firing on for those pieces of information critical to proval to kill or capture and, if pos- them. On October 7th, the night the bombing the ‘‘white,’’ or overt, world. sible, interrogate ‘high value’ targets began, an unmanned Predator aircraft Fewer than two hundred operatives and of- tracked an automobile convoy that, Amer- in the Bush administration’s war on ficials, including Rumsfeld and General ican intelligence believed, contained Mullah Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs terror.’’ Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader. A law- of Staff, were ‘‘completely read into the pro- The people, and I conclude with this, yer on duty at the United States Central gram,’’ the former intelligence official said. ‘‘the people assigned to the program Command headquarters, in Tampa, Florida, The goal was to keep the operation pro- worked by the book, the former intel- refused to authorize a strike. By the time an tected. ‘‘We’re not going to read more people ligence official told me,’’ this is Sey- attack was approved, the target was out of than necessary into our heart of darkness,’’ mour Hersh. ‘‘They created code words, reach. Rumsfeld was apoplectic over what he he said. ‘‘The rules are ‘Grab whom you and recruited, after careful screening, saw as a self-defeating hesitation to attack must. Do what you want.’’’ that was due to political correctness. One of- One Pentagon official who was deeply in- highly trained commandos and ficer described him to me that fall as ‘‘kick- volved in the program was Stephen operatives from America’s elite forces, ing a lot of glass and breaking doors.’’ In No- Cambone, who was named Under-Secretary Navy SEALs, the Army’s Delta Force, vember, the Washington Post reported that, of Defense for Intelligence in March, 2003. and the CIA’s paramilitary experts. as many as ten times since early October, The office was new; it was created as part of They also asked some basic questions: Air Force pilots believed they’d had senior Rumsfeld’s reorganization of the Pentagon. ‘Do the people working the problem Al Qaeda and Taliban members in their Cambone was unpopular among military and have to use aliases? Yes. Do we need sights but had been unable to act in time be- civilian intelligence bureaucrats in the Pen- dead drops for the mail? Yes.’ No cause of legalistic hurdles. There were simi- tagon, essentially because he had little expe- lar problems throughout the world, as Amer- rience in running intelligence programs, traceability and no budget. And some ican Special Forces units seeking to move though in 1998 he had served as staff director special-access programs are never fully quickly against suspected terrorist cells for a committee, headed by Rumsfeld, that briefed to Congress.’’ were compelled to get prior approval from warned of an emerging ballistic-missile In other words, a deliberate develop- local American ambassadors and brief their threat to the United States. He was known ment of a plan not only to commit superiors in the chain of command. instead for his closeness to Rumsfeld. ‘‘Re- these outrageous atrocities that have Rumsfeld reacted in his usual direct fash- member Henry II—‘Who will rid me of this shocked the world but a way to avoid ion: he authorized the establishment of a meddlesome priest?’’’ the senior C.I.A. offi- congressional scrutiny. highly secret program that was given blan- cial said to me, with a laugh, last week. ket advance approval to kill or capture and, ‘‘Whatever Rumsfeld whimsically says, I will insert this article that I re- if possible, interrogate ‘‘high value’’ targets Cambone will do ten times that much.’’ ferred to earlier at this point in the in the Bush Administration’s war on terror. Cambone was a strong advocate for war RECORD. A special-access program, or SAP—subject to against Iraq. He shared Rumsfeld’s disdain [From The New Yorker, May 17, 2004] the Defense Department’s most stringent for the analysis and assessments proffered by level of security—was set up, with an office the C.I.A., viewing them as too cautious, and THE GRAY ZONE in a secure area of the Pentagon. The pro- chafed, as did Rumsfeld, at the C.I.A.’s in- (By Seymour M. Hersh) gram would recruit operatives and acquire ability, before the Iraq war, to state conclu- The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal the necessary equipment, including aircraft, sively that Saddam Hussein harbored weap- lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few and would keep its activities under wraps. ons of mass destruction. Cambone’s military Army reservists but in a decision, approved America’s most successful intelligence oper- assistant, Army Lieutenant General William last year by Secretary of Defense Donald ations during the Cold War had been SAPs, G. (Jerry) Boykin, was also controversial. Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret oper- including the Navy’s submarine penetration Last fall, he generated unwanted headlines ation, which had been focussed on the hunt of underwater cables used by the Soviet high after it was reported that, in a speech at an for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of pris- command and construction of the Air Oregon church, he equated the Muslim world oners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embit- Force’s stealth bomber. All the so-called with Satan. tered the American intelligence community, ‘‘black’’ programs had one element in com- Early in his tenure, Cambone provoked a damaged the effectiveness of e´lite combat mon: the Secretary of Defense, or his deputy, bureaucratic battle within the Pentagon by units, and hurt America’s prospects in the had to conclude that the normal military insisting that he be given control of all spe- war on terror. classification restraints did not provide cial-access programs that were relevant to According to interviews with several past enough security. the war on terror. Those programs, which and present American intelligence officials, ‘‘Rumsfeld’s goal was to get a capability in had been viewed by many in the Pentagon as the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the place to take on a high-value target—a sacrosanct, were monitored by Kenneth intelligence community by several code standup group to hit quickly,’’ a former deGraffenreid, who had experience in words, including Copper Green, encouraged high-level intelligence official told me. ‘‘He counter-intelligence programs. Cambone got physical coercion and sexual humiliation of got all the agencies together—the C.I.A. and control, and deGraffenreid subsequently left

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17MY7.107 H17PT1 H3074 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 17, 2004 the Pentagon. Asked for comment on this Iraqis working with coalition from within ministration had unilaterally declared Al story, a Pentagon spokesman said, ‘‘I will the Iraqi security services, primarily the Qaeda and other captured members of inter- not discuss any covert programs; however, Iraqi Police force which is rife with sym- national terrorist networks to be illegal Dr. Cambone did not assume his position as pathy for the insurgents, Iraqi ministries combatants, and not eligible for the protec- the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intel- and from within pro-insurgent individuals tion of the Geneva Conventions.) ligence until March 7, 2003, and had no in- working with the CPA’s so-called Green Rumsfeld and Cambone went a step fur- volvement in the decision-making process Zone. ther, however: they expanded the scope of regarding interrogation procedures in Iraq or The study concluded, ‘‘Politically, the U.S. the SAP, bringing its unconventional meth- anywhere else.’’ has failed to date. Insurgencies can be fixed ods to Abu Ghraib. The commandos were to In mid-2003, the special-access program was or ameliorated by dealing with what caused operate in Iraq as they had in Afghanistan. regarded in the Pentagon as one of the suc- them in the first place. The disaster that is The male prisoners could be treated roughly, cess stories of the war on terror. ‘‘It was an the reconstruction of Iraq has been the key and exposed to sexual humiliation. active program,’’ the former intelligence of- cause of the insurgency. There is no legiti- ‘‘They weren’t getting anything sub- ficial told me. ‘‘It’s been the most important mate government, and it behooves the Coali- stantive from the detainees in Iraq,’’ the capability we have for dealing with an immi- tion Provisional Authority to absorb the sad former intelligence official told me. ‘‘No nent threat. If we discover where Osama bin but unvarnished fact that most Iraqis do not names. Nothing that they could hang their Laden is, we can get him. And we can remove see the Governing Council’’—the Iraqi body hat on. Cambone says, I’ve got to crack this an existing threat with a real capability to appointed by the C.P.A.—‘‘as the legitimate thing and I’m tired of working through the hit the United States—and do so without vis- authority. Indeed, they know that the true normal chain of command. I’ve got this ap- ibility.’’ Some of its methods were troubling power is the CPA.’’ paratus set up—the black special-access pro- and could not bear close scrutiny, however. By the fall, a military analyst told me, the gram—and I’m going in hot. So he pulls the By then, the war in Iraq had begun. The extent of the Pentagon’s political and mili- switch, and the electricity begins flowing SAP was involved in some assignments in tary misjudgments was clear. Donald Rums- last summer. And it’s working. We’re getting Iraq, the former official said. C.I.A. and feld’s ‘‘dead-enders’’ now included not only a picture of the insurgency in Iraq and the other American Special Forces operatives se- Baathists but many marginal figures as intelligence is flowing into the white world. cretly teamed up to hunt for Saddam Hus- well—thugs and criminals who were among We’re getting good stuff. But we’ve got more sein and—without success—for Iraqi weapons the tens of thousands of prisoners freed the targets’’—prisoners in Iraqi jails—‘‘than peo- of mass destruction. But they weren’t able to previous fall by Saddam as part of a prewar ple who can handle them.’’ stop the evolving insurgency. general amnesty. Their desperation was not Cambone then made another crucial deci- In the first months after the fall of Bagh- driving the insurgency; it simply made them sion, the former intelligence official told me: dad, Rumsfeld and his aides still had a lim- easy recruits for those who were. The ana- not only would he bring the SAP’s rules into ited view of the insurgency, seeing it as lit- lyst said, ‘‘We’d killed and captured guys the prisons; he would bring some of the tle more than the work of Baathist ‘‘dead- who had been given two or three hundred Army military-intelligence officers working enders,’’ criminal gangs, and foreign terror- dollars to ‘pray and spray’ ’’—that is, shoot inside the Iraqi prisons under the SAP’s aus- ists who were Al Qaeda followers. The Ad- randomly and hope for the best. ‘‘They pices. ‘‘So here are fundamentally good sol- ministration measured its success in the war weren’t really insurgents but down-and- diers—military-intelligence guys—being told by how many of those on its list of the fifty- outers who were paid by wealthy individuals that no rules apply,’’ the former official, who five most wanted members of the old re- sympathetic to the insurgency.’’ In many has extensive knowledge of the special-ac- gime—reproduced on playing cards—had cases, the paymasters were Sunnis who had cess programs, added. ‘‘And, as far as they’re been captured. Then, in August, 2003, terror been members of the Baath Party. The ana- concerned, this is a covert operation, and it’s bombings in Baghdad hit the Jordanian Em- lyst said, that the insurgents ‘‘spent three of to be kept within Defense Department chan- nels.’’ bassy, killing nineteen people, and the four months figuring out how we operated The military-police prison guards, the United Nations headquarters, killing twenty- and developing their own countermeasures. former official said, included ‘‘recycled hill- three people, including Sergio Vieira de If that meant putting up a hapless guy to go billies from Cumberland, Maryland.’’ He was Mello, the head of the U.N. mission. On Au- and attack a convoy and see how the Amer- referring to members of the 372nd Military gust 25th, less than a week after the U.N. ican troops responded, they’d do it.’’ Then, Police Company. Seven members of the com- bombing, Rumsfeld acknowledged, in a talk the analyst said.‘‘the clever ones began to pany are now facing charges for their role in before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, that get in on the action.’’ the abuse at Abu Ghraib. ‘‘How are these By contrast, according to the military re- ‘‘the dead-enders are still with us.’’ He went guys from Cumberland going to know any- port, the American and Coalition forces on, ‘‘There are some today who are surprised thing? The Army Reserve doesn’t know what knew little about the insurgency: ‘‘Human that there are still pockets of resistance in it’s doing.’’ Iraq, and they suggest that this represents intelligence is poor or lacking . . . due to the Who was in charge of Abu Ghraib—whether some sort of failure on the part of the Coali- dearth of competence and expertise. . . . The military police or military intelligence—was tion. But this is not the case.’’ Rumsfeld intelligence effort is not coordinated since no longer the only question that mattered. compared the insurgents with those true be- either too many groups are involved in gath- Hard-core special operatives, some of them lievers who ‘‘fought on during and after the ering intelligence or the final product does with aliases, were working in the prison. The defeat of the Nazi regime in Germany.’’ A not get to the troops in the field in a timely military police assigned to guard the pris- few weeks later—and five months after the manner.’’ The success of the war was at risk; oners wore uniforms, but many others—mili- fall of Baghdad—the Defense Secretary de- something had to be done to change the dy- tary intelligence officers, contract inter- clared, ‘‘It is, in my view, better to be deal- namic. preters, C.I.A. officers, and the men from the ing with terrorists in Iraq than in the United The solution, endorsed by Rumsfeld and special-access program—wore civilian States.’’ carried out by Stephen Cambone, was to get clothes. It was not clear who was who, even Inside the Pentagon, there was a growing tough with those Iraqis in the Army prison to Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, then realization that the war was going badly. system who were suspected of being insur- the commander of the 800th Military Police The increasingly beleaguered and baffled gents. A key player was Major General Geof- Brigade, and the officer ostensibly in charge. Army leadership was telling reporters that frey Miller, the commander of the detention ‘‘I thought most of the civilians there were the insurgents consisted of five thousand and interrogation center at Guanta´ namo, interpreters, but there were some civilians Baathists loyal to Saddam Hussein. ‘‘When who had been summoned to Baghdad in late that I didn’t know,’’ Karpinski told me. ‘‘I you understand that they’re organized in a August to review prison interrogation proce- called them the disappearing ghosts. I’d seen cellular structure,’’ General Jon Abizaid, the dures. The internal Army report on the them once in a while at Abu Ghraib and then head of the Central Command declared, abuse charges, written by Major General An- I’d see them months later. They were nice— ‘‘that . . . they have access to a lot of money tonio Taguba in February, revealed that Mil- they’d always call out to me and say, ‘Hey, and a lot of ammunition, you’ll understand ler urged that the commanders in Baghdad remember me? How are you doing?’’’ The how dangerous they are.’’ change policy and place military intelligence mysterious civilians, she said, were ‘‘always The American military and intelligence in charge of the prison. The report quoted bringing in somebody for interrogation or communities were having little success in Miller as recommending that ‘‘detention op- waiting to collect somebody going out.’’ penetrating the insurgency. One internal re- erations must act as an enabler for interro- Karpinski added that she had no idea who port prepared for the U.S. military, made gation.’’ was operating in her prison system. (General available to me, concluded that the insur- Miller’s concept, as it emerged in recent Taguba found that Karpinski’s leadership gents’ ‘‘strategic and operational intel- Senate hearings, was to ‘‘Gitmoize’’ the pris- failures contributed to the abuses.) ligence has proven to be quite good.’’ Accord- on system in Iraq—to make it more focussed By fall, according to the former intel- ing to the study: on interrogation. He also briefed military ligence official, the senior leadership of the Their ability to attack convoys, other vul- commanders in Iraq on the interrogation C.I.A. had had enough. ‘‘They said, ‘No way. nerable targets and particular individuals methods used in Cuba—methods that could, We signed up for the core program in Af- has been the result of painstaking surveil- with special approval, include sleep depriva- ghanistan—pre-approved for operations lance and reconnaissance. Inside information tion, exposure to extremes of cold, and heat, against high-value terrorist targets—and has been passed on to insurgent cells about and placing prisoners in ‘‘stress positions’’ now you want to use it for cabdrivers, broth- convoy/troop movements and daily habits of for agonizing lengths of time. (The Bush Ad- ers-in-law, and people pulled off the

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A17MY7.061 H17PT1 May 17, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H3075 streets’ ’’—the sort of prisoners who populate publicity. These are private affairs and re- In their testimony before Congress last the Iraqi jails. ‘‘The C.I.A.’s legal people ob- main in private.’’ The Patai book, an aca- week, Rumsfeld and Cambone struggled to jected,’’ and the agency ended its SAP in- demic told me, was ‘‘the bible of the neocons convince the legislators that Miller’s visit to volvement in Abu Ghraib, the former official on Arab behavior.’’ In their discussions, he Baghdad in late August had nothing to do said. said, two themes emerged—‘‘one, that Arabs with the subsequent abuse. Cambone sought The C.I.A.’s complaints were echoed only understand force and, two, that the big- to assure the Senate Armed Services Com- throughout the intelligence community. gest weakness of Arabs is shame and humil- mittee that the interplay between Miller and There was fear that the situation at Abu iation.’’ Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top Ghraib would lead to the exposure of the se- The government consultant said that there U.S. commander in Iraq, had only a casual cret SAP, and thereby bring an end to what may have been a serious goal, in the begin- connection to his office. Miller’s rec- had been, before Iraq, a valuable cover oper- ning, behind the sexual humiliation and the ommendations, Cambone said, were made to ation. ‘‘This was stupidity,’’ a government posed photographs. It was thought that some Sanchez. His own role, he said, was mainly consultant told me. ‘‘You’re taking a pro- prisoners would do anything—including spy- to insure that the ‘‘flow of intelligence back gram that was operating in the chaos of Af- ing on their associates—to avoid dissemina- to the commands’’ was ‘‘efficient and effec- ghanistan against Al Qaeda, a stateless ter- tion of the shameful photos to family and tive.’’ He added that Miller’s goal was ‘‘to ror group, and bringing it into a structured, friends. The government consultant said, ‘‘I provide a safe, secure and humane environ- traditional war zone. Sooner or later, the was told that the purpose of the photographs ment that supports the expeditious collec- commandos would bump into the legal and was to create an army of informants, people tion of intelligence.’’ moral procedures of a conventional war with you could insert back in the population.’’ It was a hard sell. Senator Hillary Clinton, an Army of a hundred and thirty-five thou- The idea was that they would be motivated Democrat of New York, posed the essential sand soldiers.’’ by fear of exposure, and gather information question facing the senators: The former senior intelligence official about pending insurgency action, the con- If, indeed General Miller was sent from blamed hubris for the Abu Ghraib disaster. sultant said. If so, it wasn’t effective; the in- Guanta´ namo to Iraq for the purpose of ac- ‘‘There’s nothing more exhilarating for a surgency continued to grow. quiring more actionable intelligence from pissant Pentagon civilian than dealing with ‘‘This shit has been brewing for months,’’ detainees, then it is fair to conclude that the an important national security issue without the Pentagon consultant who has dealt with actions that are at point here in you report dealing with military planners, who are al- SAPs told me. ‘‘You don’t keep prisoners [on abuses at Abu Ghraib] are in some way ways worried about risk,’’ he told me. ‘‘What naked in their cell and then let them get bit- connected to General Miller’s arrival and his could be more boring than needing the co- ten by dogs. This is sick.’’ The consultant specific orders, however they were inter- operation of logistical planners?’’ The only explained that he and his colleagues, all of preted, by those MPs and the military intel- difficulty, the former official added, is that, whom had served for years on active duty in ligence that were involved. . . . Therefore, I ‘‘as soon as you enlarge the secret program the military, had been appalled by the mis- for one don’t believe I yet have adequate in- beyond the oversight capability of experi- use of Army guard dogs inside Abu Ghraib. formation from Mr. Cambone and the De- enced people, you lose control. We’ve never ‘‘We don’t raise kids to do things like that. fense Department as to exactly what General had a case where a special-access program When you go after Mullah Omar, that’s one Miller’s orders were . . . how he carried out went sour—and this goes back to the Cold thing. But when you give the authority to those orders, and the connection between his War.’’ kids who don’t know the rules, that’s an- arrival in the fall of ’03 and the intensity of In a separate interview, a Pentagon con- other.’’ the abuses that occurred afterward. sultant, who spent much of his career di- In 2003, Rumsfeld’s apparent disregard for Sometime before the Abu Ghraib abuses rectly involved with special-access pro- the requirements of the Geneva Conventions became public, the former intelligence offi- grams, spread the blame. ‘‘The White House while carrying out the war on terror had led cial told me, Miller was ‘‘read in’’—that is, subcontracted this to the Pentagon, and the a group of senior military legal officers from briefed—on the special-access operation. In the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps to April, Miller returned to Baghdad to assume Pentagon subcontracted it to Cambone,’’ he pay two surprise visits within five months to control of the Iraqi prisons; once the scandal said. ‘‘This is Cambone’s deal, but Rumsfeld Scott Horton, who was then chairman of the hit, with its glaring headlines, General and Myers approved the program.’’ When it New York City Bar Association’s Committee Sanchez presented him to the American and came to the interrogation operation at Abu on International Human Rights. ‘‘They international media as the general who Ghraib, he said, Rumsfeld left the details to wanted us to challenge the Bush Administra- would clean up the Iraqi prison system and Cambone. Rumsfeld may not be personally tion about its standards for detentions and instill respect for the Geneva Conventions. culpable, the consultant added, ‘‘but he’s re- interrogation,’’ Horton told me. ‘‘They were ‘‘His job is to save what he can,’’ the former sponsible for the checks and balances. The urging us to get involved and speak in a very official said. ‘‘He’s there to protect the pro- issue is that, since 9/11, we’ve changed the loud voice. It came pretty much out the gram while limiting any loss of core capa- rules on how we deal with terrorism, and cre- blue. The message was that conditions are bility.’’ As for Antonio Taguba, the former ated conditions where the ends justify the ripe for abuse, and it’s going to occur.’’ The intelligence official added, ‘‘He goes into it means.’’ military officials were most alarmed about not knowing shit. And then: ‘‘Holy cow! Last week, statements made by one of the the growing use of civilian contractors in the What’s going on? seven accused M.P.s, Specialist Jeremy interrogation process, Horton recalled. If General Miller had been summoned by Sivits, who is expected to plead guilty, were ‘‘They said there was an atmosphere of legal Congress to testify, he, like Rumsfeld and released. In them, he claimed that senior ambiguity being created as a result of a pol- Cambone, would not have been able to men- commanders in his unit would have stopped icy decision at the highest levels in the Pen- tion the special-access program. ‘‘If you give the abuse had they witnessed it. One of the tagon. The JAG officers were being cut out away the fact that a special-access program questions that will be explored at any trial, of the policy formulation process.’’ They told exists,’’ the former intelligence official told however, it why a group of Army Reserve him that, with the war on terror, a fifty-year me, ‘‘you blow the whole quick-reaction pro- military policemen, most of them from small history of exemplary application of the Ge- gram.’’ towns, tormented their prisoners as they did, neva Conventions had come to an end. One puzzling aspect of Rumsfeld’s account in a manner that was especially humiliating The abuses at Abu Ghraib were exposed on of his initial reaction to news of the Abu for Iraqi men. January 13th, when Joseph Darby, a young Ghraib investigation was his lack of alarm The notion that Arabs are particularly vul- military policeman assigned to Abu Gharib, and lack of curiosity. One factor may have nerable to sexual humiliation became a talk- reported the wrongdoing to the Army’s been recent history: there had been many ing point among pro-war Washington con- Criminal Investigations Division. He also previous complaints of prisoner abuse from servatives in the months before the March, turned over a CD full of photographs. Within organizations like Human Rights Watch and 2003, invasion of Iraq. One book that was fre- three days, a report made its way to Donald the International Red Cross, and the Pen- quently cited was ‘‘The Arab Mind,’’ a study Rumsfeld, who informed President Bush. tagon had weathered them with ease. Rums- of Arab culture and psychology, first pub- The inquiry presented a dilemma for the feld told the Senate Armed Services Com- lished in 1973, by Raphael Patai, a cultural Pentagon. The C.I.D. had to be allowed to mittee that he had not been provided with anthropologist who taught at, among other continue, the former intelligence official details of alleged abuses until late March, universities, Columbia and Princeton, and said. ‘‘You can’t cover it up. You have to when he read the specific charges. ‘‘You read who died in 1996. The book includes a twen- prosecute these guys for being off the res- it, as I say, it’s one thing. You see these pho- ty-five-page chapter on Arabs and sex, de- ervation. But how do you prosecute them tographs and it’s just unbelievable. . . . It picting sex as a taboo vested with shame and when they were covered by the special-access wasn’t three-dimensional. It wasn’t video. It repression. ‘‘The segregation of the sexes, program? So you hope that maybe it’ll go wasn’t color. it was quite a different thing.’’ the veiling of the women . . . and all the away.’’ The Pentagon’s attitude last Janu- The former intelligence official said that in other minute rules that govern and restrict ary, he said, was ‘‘Somebody got caught with his view, Rumsfeld and other senior Pen- contact between men and women, have the some photos. What’s the big deal? Take care tagon officials had not studied the photo- effect of making sex a prime mental pre- of it.’’ Rumsfeld’s explanation to the White graphs because ‘‘they thought what was in occupation in the Arab world,’’ Patai wrote. House, the official added, was reassuring. there was permitted under the rules of en- Homosexual activity, ‘‘or any indication of ‘‘We’ve got a glitch in the program. We’ll gagement,’’ as applied to the SAP. ‘‘The homosexual leanings, as with all other ex- prosecute it.’ The cover story was that some photos,’’ he added, ‘‘turned out to be the re- pressions of sexuality, is never given any kids got out of control.’’ sult of the program run amok.’’

VerDate May 04 2004 05:02 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A17MY7.063 H17PT1 H3076 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 17, 2004 The former intelligence official made it third-degree techniques around the world on was that not only was this a very clear clear that he was not alleging that Rumsfeld detainees. ‘‘Some JAGS hate this and are attempt, if the article is accurate, by or General Myers knew that atrocities were horrified that the tolerance of mistreatment the Bush administration to set up an committed. But, he said, ‘‘it was their per- will come back and haunt us in the next intelligence-gathering mechanism and mission granted to do the SAP, generically, war,’’ Roth told me. ‘‘We’re giving the world operation that would be free and clear and there was enough ambiguity, which per- a ready-made excuse to ignore the Geneva mitted the abuses.’’ Conventions. Rumsfeld has lowered the bar.’’ of any congressional oversight, but that they were taking these procedures Thsi official went on, ‘‘The black guys’’— Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, and methods from Afghanistan, where those in the Pentagon’s secret program— would the gentleman yield? ‘‘say we’ve got to accept the prosecution. we were clearly fighting terrorists and they’re vaccinated from the reality.’’ The Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gen- tleman from Hawaii. had terrorists in custody, and were in- SAP is still active, and ‘‘the United States is terrogating terrorists and where we picking up guys for interrogation. The ques- Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Michigan gave a had announced, rightly or wrongly, tion is, how do they protect the quick-reac- that the Geneva Conventions would not tion force without blowing its cover?’’ The quote there concerning the briefing of program was protected by the fact that no Congress. Could the gentleman read apply. Then we were taking these one on the outside was allowed to know of its that again and attribute where the methods and procedures to a more tra- existence. ‘‘If you even give a hint that source of that comment was? Was that ditional war zone in Iraq and applying you’re aware of a black program that you’re an observation or was that a direct them to the detainees in the Iraqi pris- not read into, you lose your clearances,’’ the quote from someone? Perhaps he can ons, notably Abu Ghraib, where the de- former official said. ‘‘Nobody will talk. So tainees were a bunch of people off the the only people left to prosecute are those read that text. Mr. CONYERS. No. This was from the street, street criminals, rock throwers, who are undefended—the poor kids at the hoodlums, maybe some terrorists, but end of the food chain.’’ author of the article, Seymour Hersh, The most vulnerable senior official is the part that determined that the ex- certainly a wide number of just dis- Cambone. ‘‘The Pentagon is trying now to istence of a program was to avoid affected Iraqis who got swept up by the protect Cambone, and doesn’t know how to traceability, to have no budget that police and by the Army in an urban do it,’’ the former intelligence official said. was reportable. So we did not have setting that was a traditional war Last week, the government consultant, zone. Yet, here the American operation anything to even oversight, and then who has close ties to many conservatives, de- was using these same interrogation ap- also that they could avoid congres- fended the Administration’s continued se- proaches that we have been using sional scrutiny and a requirement or crecy about the special-access program in against known terrorists in a lawless Abu Ghraib.; ‘‘Why keep it black?’’ the con- obligation for being briefed to Con- sultant asked. ‘‘Because the process is un- situation in Afghanistan. gress. This seems to me to be the root of pleasant. It’s like making sausage—you like Mr. ABERCROMBIE. So we can make the problem. First off, there is clear ac- the result but you don’t want to know how it absolutely sure, this is Mr. Hersh re- countability to the very top of the De- was made. Also, you don’t want the Iraqi porting what information was coming public, and the Arab world, to know. Re- fense Department and the White House, to him, that that was the intent of this member, we went to Iraq to democratize the and every time those gentlemen talk Middle East. The last thing you want to do approach; is that correct? about just a few bad apples, it sets my Mr. CONYERS. Yes, but what I am is let the Arab world know how you treat hackles on edge because clearly they trying to do is give us the basis of why Arab males in prison.’’ are trying to avoid accountability and The former intelligence official told me he there ought to be an investigation. I responsibility. feared that one of the disastrous effects of wish I could vet all of these state- the prison-abuse scandal would be the under- The fundamental error they made ments, assertions, and I have as many was, in my judgment, taking this from mining of legitimate operations in the war questions as the gentleman probably on terror, which had already suffered from a terror interrogation into interroga- the draining of resources into Iraq. He por- does. tion of street criminals and routine trayed Abu Ghraib as a ‘‘a tumor’’ on the The problem is that we are now con- suspects that have so badly backfired war on terror. He said, ‘‘As long as it’s be- fronted with taking a few reservists on our image in Iraq. nign and contained, the Pentagon can deal and throwing them into a court-mar- So I wonder, does the gentleman read with the photo crisis without jeopardizing tial situation, when clearly this prob- the article the same way as I do? the secret program. As soon as it begins to lem that has been exposed started with Mr. CONYERS. I do, because they grow, with nobody to diagnose it—it becomes more than a few privates and corporals said they were taking people walking a malignant tumor.’’ and sergeants, determining how they The Pentagon consultant made a similar off the streets, taxi drivers, in-laws of point. Cambone and his superiors, the con- were going to commit these abuses; somebody who may be more seriously sultant said, ‘‘created the conditions that al- that this was sanctioned. This was implicated, and that they were bring- lowed transgressions to take place. And now planned, and I repeat again, the Presi- ing in an expert from Guantanamo. we’re going to end up with another Church dent was informed of the existence of They do not make them enemy com- Commission’’—the 1975 Senate committee on the program, a former intelligence offi- batants so that these folks have no intelligence, headed by Senator Frank cial talking to Seymour Hersh said. rights under the Geneva Conventions Church, of Idaho, which investigated C.I.A. This is an award-winning writer on whatsoever, and the whole thing reads abuses during the previous two decades. Abu the American government scene for like an absolute nightmare. They are Ghraib had sent the message that the Pen- many years. I need to know more, but tagon leadership was unable to handle its naming names and they are naming discretionary power. ‘‘When the shit hits the I am certainly not going to walk away strategies. This so-called, what do we fan, as it did on 9/11, how do you push the from this highly complex information call it, the secret access program. pedal?’’ the consultant asked. ‘‘You do it se- that has been presented to us. Mr. HOEFFEL. Very aptly known as lectively and with intelligence.’’ Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, would SAP, S-A-P. ‘‘Congress is going to get to the bottom of the gentleman yield? Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, re- this,’’ the Pentagon consultant said. ‘‘You Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gen- claiming my time for a moment, be- have to demonstrate that there are checks tleman from Pennsylvania. cause I know we are joined by our and balances in the system.’’ He added, Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank friend, the gentleman from Washington ‘‘When you live in a world of gray zones, you the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. have to have very clear red lines.’’’ (Mr. INSLEE), and again, I think we are Senator John McCain, of Arizona, said, ‘‘If CONYERS) for bringing the Seymour coming back to an issue that has to be this is true, it certainly increases the dimen- Hersh article to the attention of the discussed here, and that is an issue of sion of this issue and deserves significant House today. I read that this after- competence. scrutiny. I will do all possible to get to the noon, and I agree with my colleague, There is nobody in this chamber that bottom of this, and all other allegations.’’ the impact of that article clearly is is not committed to making every ef- ‘‘In an odd way,’’ Kenneth Roth, the execu- this was a planned special operation fort, every responsible effort to end the tive director of Human Rights Watch, said, ‘‘the sexual abuses at Abu Ghraib have be- that did not originate with the privates threat of terrorism, not just against come a diversion for the prisoner abuse and and the sergeants but at the highest the United States but all over the the violation of the Geneva Conventions that levels of the Bush administration. globe. What I think the world has con- is authorized.’’ Since September 11th, Roth But the question I wanted to ask my cluded, as most Americans have con- added, the military has systematically used colleague, what I got out of the article cluded, is that the information that

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A17MY7.066 H17PT1 May 17, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H3077 was provided to this administration in- American people leading up to this Because, frankly, what Iraq needs is dicating that there was weapons of war. They want accountability, and a real congress which is elected by the mass destruction in Iraq and that there they deserve accountability. Iraqi people. These guys who are under were linkages between Saddam Hussein We offered today an amendment to indictment in Jordan, you cannot para- and al Qaeda were absolutely false, ab- the defense authorizations bill to be chute him in and expect him to be wel- solutely false. considered this week that will give comed as the savior of Iraq. What we have learned is that much of Americans some accountability on the Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, if this information was provided by an source of this information, of Mr. the gentleman will yield on that point. exiled group called the Iraqi National Chalabi’s rogue group, this alleged Mr. INSLEE. Let me say one more Congress, headed by this particular Iraqi National Congress. And there is thing. We need elections sooner rather gentleman here with the sunglasses on nothing congressional about it. It is a than later in Iraq to vest them with whose name is Ahmed Chalabi, who for bunch of folks that want to go back in their own destiny, and I will offer an years was working to return to Iraq. and run Iraq and who convinced the amendment to do that as well. Mr. Chalabi is an interesting and neoconservatives who are behind this I yield to the gentleman from Hawaii controversial figure, of course, because war that we would all be greeted with (Mr. ABERCROMBIE). during his exile he lived for a time in rose petals because Mr. Chalabi would Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, on Jordan, and while he was there, he was be seen as the great savior of Iraq. that point, perhaps one of my esteemed charged with and accused and con- This great fantasy was bought hook, colleagues could enlighten me as to the victed of the crime of embezzlement in line and sinker by the President of the status of Mr. Chalabi and his brethren the amount of some $30 million. He was United States and the administration, with respect to the sovereignty issue sentenced to a term of 22 years in pris- and it was a fraud. And it is time for that is supposed to come to full fru- on. Somehow during his exile he be- the American taxpayers to have ac- ition on June 30. I am unable to deter- came friendly with or developed rela- countability here. mine from my inquiries as to exactly tionships with Richard Pearl, who for- Now, what I am told, and I want to where the United Nations representa- merly served on the Defense Advisory make sure it is true, but I am told tax- tive, Mr. Chalabi, and Mr. Bremer cross Board, with the Vice President Mr. payers are still paying this group, this paths. CHENEY, and with others in the so- group that gave us, apparently will- And to the degree or extent that they called neo-conservative movement. fully, or potentially willfully, false in- are in contact with one another, let formation leading to this war. We are alone in league with one another, ex- b 2230 still paying $350,000 a month for their actly what the elements of that sov- And they believed what he had to great services in Iraq. What did this ereignty will be with respect to this say. And it has been proven to be false. group do for the American people? It Iraqi governing council and Mr. And I thought what was particularly got us into a war based on false admin- Chalabi. Do any of my colleagues have interesting was that this past weekend istration they gave to the administra- any information on that or is every- our Secretary of State, Colin Powell, tion. The administration was all too body as much in the dark as I believe made a statement, I think it was on happy to accept that there were weap- the American people and the Iraqi peo- ‘‘Meet the Press,’’ that he now be- ons of mass destruction there; that ple are? lieves, and I am reading again from the there was a connection to 9–11 and that Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield New York Times dated today, that ‘‘he they would be greeted as liberators, the to the gentleman from Pennsylvania now believes that the Central Intel- three legs of this stool, all of which (Mr. HOEFFEL). ligence Agency was deliberately misled were false. And we are still paying Mr. HOEFFEL. Well, I was just going about evidence that Saddam Hussein these people. to say that we have as much of a clue was developing unconventional weap- So we will offer an amendment, hope- as the American officials in Iraq have, ons.’’ fully tomorrow it will be allowed, I which is no clue at all. I do not think Now, stop for a moment to think of hope the majority will allow it to be anybody has any idea what is going to this, that the Secretary of State, who considered, which will cut that money happen on June 30. made the presentation before the world off, assuming the things I have sug- Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Well, Mr. at the United Nations, who built the gested are true; and I believe they are. Speaker, may I ask the gentleman to case for this White House and for this So we need some accountability here of take the time back on that point? President, now indicates that he was or this group. We cannot continue it. Mr. HOEFFEL. Sure. the CIA was misled. The report goes And I want to make sure people un- Mr. ABERCROMBIE. I, unfortu- on, ‘‘He hinted at widespread reports,’’ derstand how dire this is and how hood- nately, believe that we probably have a this is Secretary Powell, ‘‘of fabrica- winked this administration was. And, pretty good idea what is going to hap- tions by an engineer who provided frankly, I think they were patsies for pen at that point. I believe that the much of the critical information about this group. We paid millions of dollars American Armed Forces will be set the so-called bioweapons labs. Intel- very shortly after the Iraqi Army col- adrift on a desert sea of anxiety, inse- ligence officials have since found that lapsed to fly into Iraq, I am told like curity, and ineptitude. the engineer was linked to the Iraqi some 800 or 900 of the cohorts and the The gentleman from Massachusetts National Congress, an exiled group coconspirators, if I can use the pejo- (Mr. DELAHUNT) has characterized the that was pressing President Bush to rative term that I think is appropriate present situation with respect to our unseat Mr. Hussein.’’ This is a quote by here, of Mr. Chalabi’s. We flew them policy as one of rampant incom- the Secretary of State. ‘‘It turned out into Baghdad, and it was going to be petence, but I think that it is unfortu- that the sourcing was inaccurate and the sort of great saviors flying in that nately all too safe to say that that will wrong and, in some cases, deliberately would be the recipient of all these rose manifest itself on June 30 with an utter misleading,’’ Mr. Powell said in an petals and would quickly reestablish incapacity to discern even momen- interview broadcast from Jordan, ‘‘and them as the functioning government of tarily what the military mission of the for that I am disappointed and I regret Iraq. United States Armed Forces will be at it.’’ Surprise. They were not really wel- that point, other than to try to survive Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, if the gen- comed with open arms in Baghdad. To- the day, survive the week, survive the tleman will yield. tally failed. Wasted our millions of dol- month, survive any stop-loss that the Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield. lars, and they are still taking money Secretary of Defense might impose on Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, my con- from the taxpayers. Now, here is one the troops there and then get home. stituents are tired of being suckered mistake, at least one mistake the ad- Mr. Speaker, I yield back to the gen- with false information that both pre- ministration ought to own up to and tleman from Massachusetts (Mr. cipitated and continue this war in Iraq, fix so we do not continue pouring DELAHUNT). and they want some accountability of money down a rat hole in Iraq with the Mr. DELAHUNT. Well, Mr. Speaker, I what happened with such a massive Iraqi National Congress, which has not do not think we have the answers. But, amount of misinformation given to the helped us one wit. again, let me go back to this issue of

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17MY7.108 H17PT1 H3078 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 17, 2004 competence, because the President of and again this is Mr. Kay speaking, Watches, I recounted a visit that Mr. the United States described the Sec- why are you so concerned about the Chalabi paid to my office, as I think he retary of Defense as a superb leader. I weapons of mass destruction? No one did to most members of the Committee reject that description. I reject that de- cares about weapons of mass destruc- on International Relations in October scription out of hand. One only has to tion. And when asked by Tom Brokaw 2002, just before the vote here in the see example after example, such as the was he embarrassed, no, his response House on the war authority on Iraq. relationship, and not just a single inci- was, we are heroes in error. I talked to Mr. Chalabi for 10 or 15 dent, with Mr. Chalabi. Clearly, the Well that error has cost the Amer- minutes. He had an aide with him, and Kingdom of Jordan, which has been a ican taxpayers hundreds of billions of my chief of staff was with me. They steadfast ally of the United States, was dollars, the lives of American young left, and I turned to my aide and I said, insulted by the appointment of this in- men and women, and the loss of Amer- That is the kind of man that my grand- dividual, who is a convicted felon, to ican moral authority and prestige in father would have called a four-flusher. the Iraqi Governing Council. the war. Mr. Chalabi, that is disgrace- I do not think I have used that term King Abdulla of Jordan was here. I ful. That is disgraceful. since my grandfather died in the 1980s. and several other members of the Com- Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, if I am not quite sure what it means. I mittee on International Relations, I the gentleman will yield. think it must come from poker where a believe I was joined by my colleague Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gen- player has four cards for a flush, does here tonight, the gentleman from tleman. not have the fifth, and you are all hot Pennsylvania (Mr. HOEFFEL), at a Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Perhaps it air and cannot be trusted and you are luncheon when I posed the question to would be useful for us to note at this just a spin doctor. the King, and congratulated him, by point that Mr. Chalabi does not occupy That is exactly the impression that I the way, for moving towards the de- his position as a result of unilateral ac- got from Ahmed Chalabi that day, that mocratization, if you will, of Jordan, tion on his part. Mr. Chalabi occupies he was spinning. He was spinning me, whether he was ever consulted by Sec- this position because of the overt poli- he was spinning the Congress, he was retary Rumsfeld or by the President cies of this administration. The reason not a man of substance and not some- about the appointment of Mr. Chalabi. he is there, the reason that we are un- one we should trust. And he said, no, he was not even con- able at this stage, at this stage, just The sad fact is, as my colleagues sulted. Yet here is an individual who prior to June 30, to say exactly what have said here tonight, the administra- established a bank, one of the largest his position will be in the future is be- tion trusted him. Paul Wolfowitz trust- banks in Jordan, then embezzled, ac- cause he continues to receive the favor ed him, Doug Faith, Donald Rumsfeld cording to the conviction, millions of of this administration. He is there be- trusted him, and because those individ- dollars, causing the bank to collapse; cause Mr. Bush saw that he went there. uals trusted him, our President trusted and he then escaped from Jordan. He is there because he is supported to him; and he is not worthy of our trust. When asked just recently about this day, to this moment by this ad- As a matter of fact, I think we need to Ahmed Chalabi potentially becoming ministration. talk about all of this talk about res- the prime minister in the interim gov- Everything that has been said con- ignations in the Department of De- ernment, what King Abdulla said was, cerning him this evening is true. It is fense. I do not think we should allow ‘‘He was not the ideal choice.’’ I dare- factual. It is contextual. We under- those civilian authorities in the DOD say that was extremely diplomatic. stand the meaning of what he said the luxury of resigning. The President But at the same time let me go and when he said we were heroes in error. ought to fire them. He ought to fire quote another individual who has And I happened to see that announce- Rumsfeld and Faith for the bad advice earned the respect of Members of this ment; and let me tell my colleagues they have given him, for believing in body and the American people, David the words do not convey the sense of people like Chalabi, for the lack of Kay. Remember David Kay? He was as- triumph, the sense of disdain, the con- planning in Iraq, for sending troops signed the task by this President, by descending attitude or sense of his over there without enough numbers, this Secretary of Defense to go find the countenance when he pronounced those without the armored vehicles to keep weapons of mass destruction; and he words. He was pleased with himself them safe. came back and said there are no weap- that he had been able to mislead the The failures of leadership in the De- ons of mass destruction, Mr. President, administration and that he was getting partment of Defense are so great, in- and testified before the United States away with it. cluding believing Chalabi, that the ci- Senate that we were all wrong. We It is one thing to deliberately mis- vilian leadership ought to go. While the were all wrong. lead someone. They may not know President is at it, he ought to get rid of But, of course, this White House, Mr. what was going on. They may not know George Tenet for the bad intelligence Bush and Mr. CHENEY and Mr. Rums- what happened. Maybe they should regarding the failure of the weapons of feld cannot acknowledge that they have known. Maybe they should have mass destruction intelligence. were wrong. They were wrong about been paying more attention in the ad- The only person that ought to resign the weapons of mass destruction. They ministration, but to give them the in the administration is Colin Powell, were wrong about the links between al widest benefit of a doubt, perhaps they because his advice is not being listened Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. And now did not. But once someone announces to, but that is another matter. we find ourselves in a quagmire. to your face that you have been misled, Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, I think But this is what Mr. Kay had to say, and deliberately so, to continue to re- the gentleman has put his finger on who, by the way, was one of the most ceive the favor of the person who made what we ought to call the Chalabi prin- hawkish members of the United Na- the appointment and allows it to con- ciple in the Bush administration. The tions monitors that went out and that tinue, tells more about the person who Chalabi principle is this: If you tell the was part of that inspection team, and does the appointing and ostensibly truth, you get fired by the President. If who actually supported the war. But holds the power than it does about Mr. you tell a falsehood, you get promoted here is what he had to say. He now be- Chalabi. and praised. lieves the Western countries’ intel- That is a pretty strong statement, ligence agencies got it wrong for two b 2245 but let us look at the facts. General reasons. He is referring to the weapons Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, it can Shinseki told the truth. He said we are of mass destruction. First, they were be summed up in one word, incom- going to need several hundred thousand manipulated by Ahmed Chalabi and petence, and a lack of leadership and troops to prevent massive looting and other dissidents whose central interest an inability to wage a war against ter- anarchy after the army collapses, and was ousting Saddam. rorism that will succeed. it was true; so they canned him. Gen- Just mentioning the name of the Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman eral Zinni said the same thing; he Iraqi National Congress leader makes from Pennsylvania (Mr. HOEFFEL). gracefully was allowed to retire. Joe Kay laugh. There is a guy who is so Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, just Wilson told the truth and pointed out transparent. Chalabi asked me once, over a year ago at one of our first Iraq that the President told a significant

VerDate May 04 2004 04:07 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17MY7.110 H17PT1 May 17, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H3079 falsehood to the American people and to match reality and our dreams and ested in this issue, that shares our con- Congress in the State of the Union ad- aspirations. cern and our belief that this is very dress, asserting that Iraq was getting Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I much a linchpin to beginning to re- uranium to build a nuclear weapon. He would suggest that these discussions store our international respect and told the truth and so the President’s that we have held and are holding support, to contact their Senators and people punished Mr. WILSON’s wife by weekly on the floor here are meant to their Representatives to assist in this outing her CIA employment, which communicate with our colleagues and effort, to read about, not just listen to should be a Federal crime. with the American people. This is our our comments, but to become engaged, So if you tell the truth in the Bush forum to do it. I think those who may educate themselves as to the role of administration, you can canned, pun- be observing our proceedings here this individual in the course of the past ished, and your wife’s career gets de- today need to take up, if they believe several years and the consequences to stroyed. But if you tell a falsehood, what we have said tonight, the cause of the United States simply because there like Mr. Chalabi’s outfit who gave us having Mr. Bush remove his support were people in this administration, so- repeated misinformation, according to from Mr. Chalabi. called neoconservatives that were the Secretary of State, you get praised, I think people across the country looking for a reason to go to war in you get the President trying to get you have to ask their representatives, as Iraq long before our national tragedy an in in the new government in Iraq, well as communicate with the White of September 11. and you get $350,000 a month of tax- House. They have to ask their Rep- Mr. ABERCROMBIE. This is why it is payers’ money, together with the mil- resentatives and Senators, do you sup- so important, and I want to make sure lions of dollars we spent trying to para- port this Chalabi administration and everyone understands. We can do this. chute them into Baghdad to form a the Iraqi Governing Council? Do you We do have a bill coming up this week, new government, which was an abject support Mr. Chalabi being a part of this and if we are able to get on the agenda failure, you are praised. sovereignty movement after June 30? If on the floor, we can stop the support If you are Paul Wolfowitz, who told you do, there have to be serious ques- for this group. It is fundamental to ad- the Congress that oil revenues would tions about your competence to be vancing the genuine interests of the pay for this and we would be greeted holding office and acting on our behalf. United States and reestablishing some This is a question that needs to be with rose petals, you are praised by the semblance of a foundation on behalf of asked. Americans need not feel impo- President. freedom that we stop Chalabi from tent, they need not feel they are mere- And if you are the Defense Secretary, being represented on the Governing ly observers of what other people are if you are wrong about WMD, wrong Council, as having the support of the doing to you and doing to this country. about the connection with 9/11, wrong United States of America. You can demand of your elected Rep- about the number of troops we need, resentatives and Senators, where do f and wrong about not having armor and you stand on this Chalabi issue? how we are going to pay for it and how LEAVE OF ABSENCE It is not a matter of getting an indi- By unanimous consent, leave of ab- much it is going to cost, if you are vidual, I am sure we all agree. He is wrong about not having early elec- sence was granted to: representative of a failure of leader- Ms. CARSON of Indiana (at the request tions, the Vice President says you are ship. His position in the Iraqi Gov- the best Secretary of Defense America of Ms. PELOSI) for today on account of erning Council is an insult to those personal reasons. has ever had. This is the Chalabi prin- people who have been wounded and who ciple. We need to break this. Mr. DEFAZIO (at the request of Ms. have been killed during this war. It is PELOSI) for today on account of official This is one of the things wrong with an insult to those of us who uphold our Iraqi policy. The people telling the business in the district. genuine ideas about freedom and de- Ms. KILPATRICK (at the request of Ms. truth are not listened to, and the peo- mocracy and their spread. So long as ple fouling up get promoted. That PELOSI) for today on account of per- this man is there, being the official sonal business. needs to change. representative of the United States to Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, what Ms. WOOLSEY (at the request of Ms. the Iraqi Governing Council, to that PELOSI) for today on account of med- is interesting is that David Kay, highly same degree will we be disenabled from respected, the man that was charged by ical reasons. achieving any of these goals, regardless Mr. BACHUS (at the request of Mr. this President, it did not take him too of how one feels about going to war in DELAY) for today on account of travel long to conclude that Mr. Chalabi was Iraq or not. delay. transparent, a manipulator, a con man, This is what needs to be done. You Mr. ENGLISH (at the request of Mr. if you will. have to demand of your representa- DELAY) for today on account of travel In addition to all that the gentleman tives, where do you stand on this issue delay. has said, do my colleagues remember of his continued presence as being offi- Mr. LEACH (at the request of Mr. when the President of the United cially supported by the United States DELAY) for today and the balance of States delivered the State of the Union of America? the week on account of leading an offi- address this year, in January of 2004, Mr. DELAHUNT. Let me reclaim my cial United States delegation to Tai- who was sitting up right there in the time for a moment. I think it is impor- wan. gallery in the Bush family box? Does tant for Americans to understand that Mr. TAUZIN (at the request of Mr. the gentleman remember? during the course of this week, we will DELAY) for today and the balance of Mr. HOEFFEL. I remember. It was be debating a bill that is described as the week on account of medical rea- Mr. Chalabi. the defense reauthorization bill. It is sons. Mr. DELAHUNT. It boggles the mind, our purpose collectively as members of Mr. TIAHRT (at the request of Mr. it is such rank incompetence, it is such this informal group that came to being DELAY) for today on account of official an inability to see reality, to be fooled. as a result of the gentleman from business. It is not incompetence, it is gross neg- Pennsylvania’s brainstorm almost a f ligence. In some other forum it might year ago now, this informal group is almost be funny, but here it is so trag- going to make every single effort to SPECIAL ORDERS GRANTED ic because it is not just about this eliminate the funding and the author- By unanimous consent, permission to President and this Vice President, but ity for the funding for the Iraqi Na- address the House, following the legis- it is about war and peace and the tional Congress that is receiving some lative program and any special orders American people and how we are $4 million a year, as the gentleman in- heretofore entered, was granted to: viewed in the world, and it is the blood dicates. For what, we do not know. For (The following Members (at the re- of our children, and it is mortgaging bad information, for self-aggrandize- quest of Mr. PALLONE) to revise and ex- our future. ment, for certainly not the best inter- tend their remarks and include extra- We should walk away from Mr. ests of the United States. neous material:) Chalabi now and begin to restore the We again, as the gentleman suggests, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, for 5 confidence of the world in our ability recommend that anyone who is inter- minutes, today.

VerDate May 04 2004 05:02 May 18, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K17MY7.112 H17PT1