McKinney - House Legislation

HUMAN RIGHTS
AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

To build a better world, we need to think globally and act locally. To this end, I have sponsored an International Day Symposium in the Fourth District to allow voters in the community to voice their opinions and get answers to questions.

Two fundamental principals guide my approach to United States foreign policy. First, human rights must be respected. Second, democracy can only work when ordinary working people have a real voice in the political process. Sadly, America’s international reputation has been severely compromised by the actions of the current administration.

United States Must Respect Human Rights

including launching an illegal invasion of Iraq based on lies told to the American public, supporting a military coup to oust the democratically elected President of Haiti and torturing detainees at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in secret detention centers around the globe. It will take decades to restore the damage the current administration has done.

Responsibility for these policies rests fundamentally on the policy-makers in Washington, DC. The buck stops here. It is from Washington that our men and women in uniform take their orders. I never lose sight of their courage and dedication. This is why I supported H. Res. 302, recognizing and commending the continuing dedication and commitment of National Guard units mobilized to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. I also voted in favor of H. Res. 266, supporting the goals of Peace Officers Memorial Day to honor federal, state, and local peace officers killed or disabled in the line of duty.

The United States cannot be a leader on the road to respecting international human rights if it is our policy to engage in explicit violations of those same human rights. Revelations and photographs continue to surface about our government’s use of kidnapping, torture techniques and denial of basic legal rights to detainees around the globe. The United States can only be a leader in human rights by rigorously observing all international conventions for the protection of human rights. In Congress, I have co-sponsored H.R. 3003, which would establish and independent Commission to investigate the abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel, and H.R. 2901, the Detainee Treatment Accountability Act, which would demand that the Pentagon share confidential information from foreign sources about detainees with the Congress. There is an urgent need for Congress to provide oversight and make policy to eliminate the use of torture and other abuse of detainees in U.S. custody.

The War on Terrorism Traps Us in a Cycle of Violence

The so-called “War on Terrorism” we are involved in, an open-ended war that we are told will not end in our lifetimes, will make war profiteers obscenely rich, but has already create a cycle of under-funding vital social program such as health care and education. Since this is a war of retribution, it establishes a cycle of violence, and until that cycle is broken this war will also mean the deaths of thousands more of our precious young men and women.

Over 2,500 Coalition troops have now died in Iraq. I have co-sponsored H. Con. Res. 35 and H. J. Res. 55 (“Homeward Bound”), two bills calling for the President to develop and implement a plan for immediate withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq providing for international and Iraqi civilian population in the plan, and continued U.S. support for Iraqi reconstruction efforts. I supported rep. John Murtha’s bill (H.J. Res. 73) calling for a partial withdrawal and redeployment of American troops in Iraq. I was also one of only 3 Members to vote for the Republicans’ insult to Rep. Murtha, which changed Murtha’s language to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. I published a statement on the altered Murtha Resolution explaining my reasons for voting ‘yes’ to this amendment that the Republicans introduced and then voted down.

I have opposed the war in Iraq because it was based on lies, was illegal under international law and is the most ill-conceived foreign policy agenda in our nation’s history. Terrorism is a tactic not an enemy, it cannot be ended or defeated by military means. Terrorism is the continuation of war by other means. If we want peace we must pursue peace. But our foreign policy agenda has been hijacked by war profiteers whose primary concern is profit, not patriotism.

All Nations Must Respect Human Rights

I believe that the bar must be raised on the standard for human rights in all countries on the planet. Recently, I have co-sponsored three bills calling for higher human rights standards.

H. Con. Res. 195 urges the Government of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, in the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and to seek a rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia.

H.Con. Res. 90 conveys the sympathies of Congress to the families of more than 370 young women who have been abducted, sexually assaulted or brutally murdered in the Mexican cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua since 1993, and encourages the Mexican government to conduct investigations and provide fair trials.

H. Res. 458 commemorates the lives and work of four Maryknoll sisters brutally murdered by the armed forces of El Salvador on December 2, 1980. I also voted in favor of H. Res. 333 supporting the idea of a National Weekend of Prayer and Reflection for the people in Darfur, Sudan where war and widespread killings have run rampant.