Whitehouse: We have responsibility to investigate Bush administration

The Rhode Island Democrat takes to the floor of the Senate to advocate for a commission to look into allegations of torture.

Published February 25, 2009 6:35PM (EST)

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., was on the floor of the Senate Wednesday, calling for the establishment of a commission to investigate torture and perhaps other misdeeds committed during the Bush administration. Whitehouse sits on the Judiciary Committee, which may set up the commission, as well as the Senate Intelligence Committee, which makes him privy to some of the administration's darker secrets.

From Whitehouse's floor statement:

As we work toward a brighter future ahead, to days when jobs return to our cities, capital to our businesses, and security to our lives, we cannot set aside our responsibility to take account of where we are, what was done, and what must now be prepared. We also have to brace ourselves for the realistic possibility that as some of this conduct is exposed we and the world will find it shameful, revolting. We may have to face the prospect of looking with horror at our own country’s deeds.


By Mark Benjamin

Mark Benjamin is a national correspondent for Salon based in Washington, D.C. Read his other articles here.

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George W. Bush Sheldon Whitehouse Torture War Room