National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). The gentleman is recognized for 10 minutes.

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, while I strongly support the underlying bill and fully respect the intent of the esteemed Member's amendment, I reluctantly rise in opposition to it, which I believe at present could potentially result in the alacritous demolition of Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison.

In so rising, I site the present disposition of another notorious site of murder and repression, Ireland's Kilmainham Jail. Built in Dublin by the British, from 1796 until the release of its last prisoner and future Irish president, Eamon de Valera, in 1924, Kilmainham Jail played a grim host to the incarceration, repression, and execution of Irish prisoners by both the English and then, most tragically, by the Irish themselves.

After initially falling into disrepair and dilapidation, the jail's restoration was commenced in 1960 and eventually concluded in the 1980s by the Irish Republic's Office of Public Works. Today, over 150,000 visitors a year come from all over the world to view Kilmainham Jail, for it constitutes a historical mirror into the torturous times which culminated in Irish independence.

In its present state, Kilmainham Jail has been wrested from its inhuman captors' use as a paradigm of oppression and death, and has instead been presented to humanity as an enduring testament to the transcendence and ultimate triumph of the human spirit in the face of evil.

Mr. Chairman, so too must stand Abu Ghraib Prison. For decades, Abu Ghraib Prison housed the murder, torture and rape of Iraqi citizens at the hands of a butcher, Saddam Hussein, and most tragically has seen the inhumane treatment of Iraqi prisoners by an unrepresentative smattering of despicable captors.

Thus, just as Irish suffering secured Irish ownership of Kilmainham Jail's fate, Iraqi suffering has secured Iraqi ownership over Abu Ghraib Prison's fate.

Abu Ghraib is not America's to obliterate as a site of evil. It is Iraq's to elevate as a testament to history and a caution of the future.

Yet, this is but my opinion, for not being an Iraqi, such is not my decision to make. Nor, I caution, is this a decision to be made by the Coalition Provisional Authority or the Iraqi Governing Council. The CPA and IGC are transitory stewards of Iraqi sovereignty. They are not the sovereign government comprised of the Iraqi people. Thus, if the CPA and/or the IGC makes a determination on Abu Ghraib's future, especially its demolition, such an action will be viewed by many Iraqis as having been done at the behest of the U.S. and our allies and not on behalf of the Iraqi people by the Iraqi people.

In a country and a time teeming with missed opportunities and impending deadlines, let us not miss this chance to act presciently, not precipitously.

I make then the following proposal: Immediately upon the transfer of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority to the Iraqi people on July 1, the United States must formally tender to the Iraqi government Abu Ghraib Prison. Then the Iraqi people and their new sovereign government, without external pressure and through free speech, debate, assembly, petition and all lawful political processes, the very political freedoms we are trying to impart to them, can justly make their final determination upon Abu Ghraib's final fate.

Nothing could more clearly and fully exhibit our true and sustained commitment to our own democratic principles and to the Iraqi people that our manifest comprehension of a few depraved captors' shame does not eclipse thousands of Iraqis' pain.

This is the sovereign Iraqis' decision to make. It is not ours to insist upon or suggest but only to abide.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First, I am aware of America's not having a role in Kilmainham Jail or grandpa would not have come here in the first place, quite likely. I never implied that. It was never stated.

I think the fact that we are having this debate is a worthwhile debate, but it is not what is reflected in the amendment. If the new Iraqi Government applies, if the Iraqi Government referenced in the amendment on line 17 applies to the new sovereign Iraqi Government, it should say so. And since this seems to be the age of deadlines or timelines, put July 1 or later.

It also should not suggest only one course of action. It should suggest that after a new sovereign Iraqi Government decides what they want to do with that facility, I cannot use that word, that evil site, then we should be able to assist them in whatever decision they make.

I was talking to another Member today, it was kind of ironic, about this situation, and he mentioned he had been to Dachau. And there are two testaments to evil that I can right off think of, Dachau and Auschwitz where America liberated.

Auschwitz, which is in Poland, still stands intact. Dachau is a fence with pictures; Dachau is in Germany.

This is an intensely personal decision for the Iraqi people. It should be done through their sovereign government. There should be no external pressure or suggestions as to what they should do.

I believe that a better amendment would have been that we will assist them and the new sovereign government after July 1 in whatever disposition of that prison that they sought and saw fit, based upon the suffering on that site.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. McCOTTER. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, this legislation will pass after July 1, so there is no way that this legislation can apply to a government that exists today because, by the time this legislation is completed, it will be the time frame of October or November or later this year. So by the time this bill is signed into law, there will be no provisional authority. There will be a legitimate Iraqi Government duly elected by the Iraq people under their constitution.

So to reference a date is a moot point because by the time this legislation is passed, that date will far have been over.

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, in a time of war events often lead legislation and precede it.

I have the utmost respect for the sponsors of this amendment and their intent. I believe him about the legislative process. It is my concern that come July 1 Abu Ghraib prison may not stand anymore and may not be there for a new sovereign Iraqi Government to make that determination. That is my concern; and the drafting of the amendment, as such, could arguably allow that to happen with the implicit consent of a House that passed this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.