Statement by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

“Since my days as a pilot with the United States Navy, nothing has been more important to me than protecting the American people and ensuring the security of our country. Today, we are in a war with extremists who want to do grievous harm to America. We all want to fight these extremists and defeat them. We all want to ensure that those who committed or supported acts of terror are brought to justice. The only disagreement is about how best to do this. What is the smartest, most effective way to fight and defeat our enemies?

“Unfortunately, as the newly declassified National Intelligence Estimate testifies very clearly, our current course is, in many ways, playing into the hands of the terrorists. It is stirring up virulent anti-Americanism around the world. It is drawing new recruits to the jihadists’ cause. And it is making America less safe.

“We have to do better job. It’s not good enough to be strong and wrong. We need to be strong and smart.

“And this is especially true when it comes to our policies on interrogating and trying suspected terrorists. Again, we all want to extract information from these suspects. We all want to try them and, if guilty, punish them. The only disagreement is about how best to do this. What is the smartest, most effective way to interrogate and try suspected terrorists?

“There is plenty of evidence that our current course, which clearly includes torturing suspects and imprisoning them without trial, is not working. To take just one case in point, consider the Canadian citizen – whom we now know to be completely innocent -- who was arrested by the CIA and sent to Syria for interrogation under torture. Not surprisingly, he told his torturers exactly what they wanted to hear: that he had received terrorist training in Afghanistan. The truth, of course, is that he was never in Afghanistan, had no terrorist ties, and is completely innocent.

“The cost to the United States for this miscarriage of justice, in terms of our forfeited reputation and moral standing, has been disastrous – just as the revelations of torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib were disastrous. What’s more, it has endangered our troops in the field -- now and in the future -- should they fall into the hands of captors who say that they have the right to subject American prisoners to the same torture and abuse.

“Again, it’s not enough to be strong and wrong. We need to be strong and smart. We need to be true to 230 years of American jurisprudence, our Constitution, and the humane values that define us as Americans. Regrettably, the bill before us fails this test. And I cannot, in good conscience, support it.