Tom Harkin: “We are all upset about what happened. Our country was founded on the principles of democracy, the inalienable rights of…”

“We are all upset about what happened. Our country was founded on the principles of democracy, the inalienable rights of individuals. We were right to condemn Saddam Hussein for his state-sponsored torture in Iraq. We are right to condemn anyone, whether it is in Uganda or those who led the Rwandan massacre, the generals who now run Burma, or those who set up the Soviet gulags during that long cold war where so many were tortured and killed by the Soviets. We have always been right to speak out against those and to do what we can to uphold the inalienable rights of individuals. We are not perfect. No country is; no individual is. But our obligation is to make sure that when this country makes a mistake, we right it. We don't try to cover it up. We don't try to excuse it. We bring it out, show it for what it is, and then institute policies, programs, procedures to make sure that human rights abuses under our watch will never happen again. The bravery of our men and women in Iraq, under intolerable conditions, is a source of pride to all of us. As Senator Kennedy said, what has happened with these pictures, these terrible human rights abuses, I believe, has to pain our wonderful young men and women in uniform more than it pains us. Most of them, I am sure, are as abhorred by this as we are. I know they are wondering how something like this could have happened. It has to be demoralizing for our military as it is demoralizing for us.”