Byron Dorgan: “I wish to talk about it because I think a very important issue that needs to be discussed--and we have not really…”

“I wish to talk about it because I think a very important issue that needs to be discussed--and we have not really discussed it much on the floor of the Senate--is the issue of torture. I don't think the issue of torture, for this country, is negotiable. And, I don't think it is a very difficult question. But, before I talk about the issue of torture specifically, let me just describe what I think represents the great strength of this country, and the great strength of this country does not include a willingness or an allowance to torture anybody anywhere. We were engaged in a long, difficult Cold War for decades. That struggle against the Soviet Union and totalitarianism lasted a long time. But it wasn't, in the end, bombs and bullets that won that war; it was American values that won that war. It was the idea of our country, and the idea of our country is rooted in the Constitution. People are free. They believe what they want. They are able to say what they want.”