Ground Report

On December 9, 2014 Senator Graham asked for permission to address the US Senate regarding the release of the CIA torture report. It went something like this:

“Madam President,  I ask unanimous consent that the recess be delayed for 5 minutes so the distinguished Senator from South Carolina might speak.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is ordered.

The Senator from South Carolina.

Mr. GRAHAM. Thank you very much. I have been a military lawyer for over 30 years. That has been one of the highlights of my life–to serve in the Air Force. During the debate about these techniques, I was very proud of the fact that every military lawyer came out on the side that the techniques in question were not who we are and what we want to be.

We are one of the leading voices of the Geneva Convention. We have stood by the Geneva Convention since its inception. I am convinced that the techniques in question violate the Geneva Convention. I am also convinced that they were motivated by fear, fear of another attack. Put yourself in the shoes of the people responsible for defending the country right after 9/11. We had been hit. We had been hit hard. Everybody thought something else was coming.

As we rounded these guys up, there was a sense of urgency and a commitment to never let it happen again that generated this program.

Who knew what, when? I do not know. All I can tell you is the people involved believed they were trying to defend the country and what they were doing was necessary. Did they get some good information? Probably so. Has it been a net loser for us as a country? Absolutely so. All I can say is the techniques in question were motivated by fear of another attack, and people at the time thought this was the best way to defend the Nation. I accept that on their part.

But as a nation, I hope we have learned the following: In this ideological struggle, good versus evil, we need to choose good. There is no shortage of people who will cut your head off. The techniques in question are nowhere near what the enemies of this Nation and radical Islam would do to people under their control. There is no comparison.

The comparison is between who we are and what we want to be. In that regard, we made a mistake. No one is going to jail because they should not, because the laws in question–the laws that existed at the time of this program–were, to be generous, vague.

I spent about a year of my life with Senator McCain working with the Bush administration and colleagues on the Democratic side to come up with the Detainee Treatment Act which clearly puts people on notice of what you can and cannot do. Going forward we fixed this problem. How do I know it is a problem? I travel. I go to the Mideast a lot. I go all over the world. It was a problem for us. Whether we like it or not, we are seen as the good guys. I like it.

Sometimes good people make mistakes. We have corrected the problem. We have interrogation techniques now that I think can protect the Nation and are within our values. The one thing I want to stress to my colleagues is that this is a war of an ideological nature. There will be no capital to conquer. We are not going to take Tokyo. We are not going to take Berlin. There is no air force to shoot down; there is no navy to sink. You are fighting a radical extreme ideology that is motivated by hate. In their world, if you do not agree with their religion, you are no longer a human being.

The only way we can possibly defeat this ideology is to offer something better. The good news for us is that we stand for something better. We stand for due process. We stand for humane treatment. We stand for the ability to have a say when you are accused of something. Our enemies stand for none of that. That is their greatest weakness. Our greatest strength is to offer a better way.

When you go to Anbar Province and you go to other places in the Mideast that have experienced life under ISIS–ISIL–and Al Qaeda, the reaction has almost been universal: We do not like this. When America comes over the hill, and they see that flag, they know help is on the way.

To the CIA officers who serve in the shadows, who intermingle with the most notorious in the world, who are always away from home never knowing if you are going back: Thank you. There is a debate about whether this report is accurate line by line. I do not know. Is this the definitive answer to the program’s problems? I do not know, but I do know the program hurt our country.

Those days are behind us. The good guys air their dirty laundry. I wished we had waited because the world is in such a volatile shape right now. I do fear this report will be used by our enemies. But I guess there is no good time to do things like this.

So to those who helped prepare the report, I understand where you are coming from. To those on my side who believe that we have gone too far, I understand that too. But this has always been easy for me. I have been too associated with the subject matter for too long. Every time our Nation cuts a corner, and every time we act out of fear and abandon who we are, we always regret it. That has happened forever. This is a step toward righting a wrong. To our enemies: Take no comfort from the fact that we have changed our program. We are committed to your demise. We are committed to your incarceration and killing you on the battlefield, if necessary.

To our friends, because we choose a different path, do not mistake that for weakness. What we are doing today is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of the ultimate strength–that you can self correct, that you can reevaluate and you can do some soul searching, and you can come out with a better product. The tools available to our intelligence community today over time will yield better results, more reliable results. The example we are setting will, over time, change the world.

To defeat radical Islam you have to show separation. Today is a commitment to show separation. The techniques they employ to impose their will have been used

for thousands of years. They are always, over time, rejected. The values we stand for–tolerance, humane treatment of everyone; whether you agree with them or not–have also stood the test of time. Over time, we will win, and they will lose. Today is about making that time period shorter. The sooner America can reattach itself to who she is, the worse off the enemy will be.

I yield the floor.”

Source: Congressional Record