Statement of Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Testimony of Director of the CIA Porter Goss

March 17, 2005

STATEMENT OF SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON THE TESTIMONY OF DIRECTOR OF THE CIA PORTER GOSS
(As prepared for delivery)

The entire world continues to wait for signs that the Administration takes its moral and legal responsibilities seriously to eliminate torture and abuse. We need a reliable assurance that torture and abuse are no longer occurring in any prison or detention facility under American control, and that the Administration is not transferring detainees to regimes known to use these despicable techniques.

Our attitude toward torture speaks volumes about our basic values and our dedication to the rule of law.

Many of us are deeply concerned about the Administration's cavalier attitude towards international law and the prohibitions against torture. The scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, the notorious Bybee memorandum, and numerous other reports of harsh interrogation techniques, rendition, and ghost detainees have clearly tarnished America's reputation in the world and made it far more difficult to win the war on terrorism. They also raise serious questions about our commitment to the rule of law.

In his report on abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, Major General Antonio Taguba wrote that prisoners had not been registered as required by Army regulations and were being moved around to avoid detection by the Red Cross. General Taguba called the practice "deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law." Last September, Army investigators told the Senate Armed Services Committee that as many as 100 detainees at Abu Ghraib had been hidden from the Red Cross at the CIA's direction.

The practice called rendition raises even more serious questions. Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture very clearly says: "No State Party shall expel, return, or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

When asked about rendition of prisoners to nations where torture is known to be practiced, Mr. Goss said "we have the responsibility of trying to ensure that they are properly treated, and we try and do the best we can to guarantee that. But of course once they're out of our control, there's only so much we can do. But we do have an accountability program for those situations."

On June 25, 2003, General Counsel William Haynes wrote a letter to Senator Leahy stating that whenever the U.S. transfers an individual to another country, "United States policy is to obtain specific assurances from the receiving country that it will not torture the individual being transferred to that country. We can assure you that the United States would take steps to investigate credible allegations of torture and take appropriate action if there were reason to believe that those assurances were not being honored."

Director Goss said, "nor would we ask another country to do something that we would not do ourselves, as a cute way of end-running our commitment to the law and decency."

Yet, these assurances are hardly convincing. Press reports make clear that since 9/11 the U.S. has flown 100 to 150 suspects to countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan -- countries the State Department has said engage in torture.

Last Sunday, Michael Scheuer, a recently retired C.I.A. official who established its rendition program, admitted on "60 Minutes" that he would "have to assume" that suspects the U.S. renders to Egypt get tortured. "It's very convenient," he said. "It's finding someone else to do your dirty work."

Despite the grave ramifications of these policies, the CIA has refused to cooperate with investigations to find out what happened. They did not cooperate with the Schlesinger Report. They refused to cooperate with the Fay/Jones report to determine the extent of the "ghost detainee" problem at Abu Ghraib. They refused to cooperate with Admiral Church and his investigators to find out what happened to CIA detainees in Afghanistan and Guantanamo. The CIA claims to be investigating these abuses, but no report has seen the light of day. This ongoing resistance calls into question the CIA's ability to investigate itself -- a flaw we have seen in other agencies.

Al Qaeda is still the gravest threat we face. If we abuse prisoners in such ways, we do not undermine Al Qaeda. We strengthen them, and make it easier to recruit terrorists. We create a backlash of hatred against us around the world, and especially in the Middle East

The President's goal of freedom and democracy are noble. But torture does not advance them. It undermines them. It is undemocratic, illegal, immoral, and unjust. We cannot credibly talk about the spread of freedom and democracy if we send detainees to countries to be tortured. We will not be able to move past this scandal as a nation until there is a full independent investigation of all that has gone wrong in our detention and interrogation policy, and all the persons found responsible for this shameful policy are held accountable.

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