Mike Pence: “I rise this evening to denounce the creation and the broadcast of the inhumane treatment of United States prisoners of…”

“I rise this evening to denounce the creation and the broadcast of the inhumane treatment of United States prisoners of war held by the Iraqi military, photographed by the Iraqi military in violation of the Geneva Convention and broadcast worldwide by the Qatar government-owned Al Jazeera network. For those who have been living somewhere other than in front of television the last 48 hours, Mr. Speaker, we all were witness of Iraqi forces parading five captured American soldiers, including a woman, before television cameras this past weekend. The Iraqi television footage, which was replayed to the entire Arab world for half a day, to over a billion people by the Qatar-based and -operated Al Jazeera network, not only showed these American POWs under a state of great indignity and duress, but it also showed the bodies of at least four other soldiers, graphically and closely portrayed, two of whom appeared to have been shot in the head, raising suspicions that they had been executed after being captured. Mr. Speaker, the Geneva Convention is quite clear and both Iraq and the United States and civilized elements of the media attain to the standards of that convention. It provides in part: Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults or public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.…”