Thomas Daschle: “first, I express my support for the remarks just made by the majority leader with regard to the position of the Senate…”

“first, I express my support for the remarks just made by the majority leader with regard to the position of the Senate on a bipartisan basis regarding the tragedy involving prisoner abuse. I hope the limited debate that was devoted to the resolution last night will not be seen by anyone as minimizing our strong feelings and the unanimity with which we wanted to express those feelings through that resolution. I appreciate the effort made by many of our colleagues who participated in the drafting of the resolution, and I am grateful for the strong show of support expressed through the resolution last night. We condemn these acts. We apologize to the world community for the involvement of the United States in the humiliation and the extraordinary violation of human rights that we have witnessed with the photographs themselves. We also wanted to say again that we recognize this is the exception to U.S. military deportment, not the rule, and that the vast majority of military men and women have served admirably, served their country and the cause, have advanced the goal, and have deserved our commendation and thanks. I think it is critical that we keep that in balance.”