Chris Murphy: “I am here to voice strong support for the resolution offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston). By passing…”

“I am here to voice strong support for the resolution offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston). By passing this resolution, we in Congress will call upon the Iraqi regime to abide by the obligations of the Geneva Convention by treating prisoners of war with dignity and humanity. We are also making it very clear that any individual who mistreats a prisoner of war in violation of the Geneva Convention will be considered a war criminal themselves and prosecuted to the full extent of United States and international law. The Geneva Convention requires the humane treatment of prisoners of war and that prisoners of war be protected against acts of violence, intimidation, insults, and public curiosity. Furthermore, the Geneva Convention prohibits the infliction of physical or mental torture and other forms of coercion on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatsoever, and provides that prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind. U.S. service personnel have confirmed several prisoners of war, and we have to make sure we protect them. I would like to mention as an aside that I ask the American media, television, radio, newspapers, to also avoid any exploitation of family and friends of captives.”