Orrin Hatch: “I have been listening to my dear colleague from Illinois, and I have to say what happened at Abu Ghraib was absolutely…”

“I have been listening to my dear colleague from Illinois, and I have to say what happened at Abu Ghraib was absolutely wrong. Everybody knows that. What happened there has to be decried. We all have to speak out about it. But the minute they found out about it, they started the process of prosecuting the people who did this. It appeared to be a small cadre of people, all of whom will likely receive either severe reprimands or actual prosecution. In other words, the system is working. It should never have happened. We decry it. It was wrong. All the screaming in the world by either side on this floor is not going to make any difference. It happened, and we are all ashamed of it. Having said that, if we listen to the arguments of the other side, transparency is absolutely critical in all the things we do. Well, then that means we ought to do away with the Intelligence Committee because there are a lot of things that are not transparent to the American people, especially when it involves national security, especially when it involves our young people's lives while overseas, especially when it involves all kinds of matters that are better left non-transparent. I went on the Internet and I read every one of these documents that was on the Internet. Most all of them were legal opinions. Now, one might differ with legal opinions. I do not know any two lawyers who agree on everything anyway, but if one reads those opinions they do make sense.”