Bill Bennett: “last week, along with a number of my colleagues, I went up into the room on the fourth floor in the Capitol where the…”

“last week, along with a number of my colleagues, I went up into the room on the fourth floor in the Capitol where the Defense Department, the State Department, and the CIA come to brief us on classified information. I sat in a darkened room where we saw a slide show of the photographs that had been taken of Americans inflicting abuse on Iraqi prisoners. The pictures were revolting, they were disgusting, and they left us all with a sense of outrage that this had gone on, outrage that Americans had been involved in anything such as this. I did not look forward to the experience. Indeed, I made the initial decision not to go. Then I decided: No, if I am going to be involved in examining what is here, I have to see the evidence, as revolting as it may be. The sense of outrage that I and my colleagues felt about this was shared by all Americans, but in one sector of American society it seems to be even greater than anyplace else. There are some in this society who might not be able to guess what that sector is. But I would say the outrage that has been the strongest has come from those who serve in the American military. Duty, honor, country--these are the watch words of the American military, and they were violated by those who took those actions in the prison in Baghdad. They did not do their duty.…”