Iraq and Civil Liberties

By Jane Harman

As the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman has established herself as one the country's most outspoken and effective critics of President Bush's policies regarding the Iraq war, the use of intelligence, and domestic surveillance. Her national reputation as a thoughtful, bipartisan legislator has given unique credibility to her criticism of Administration policies.

Harman has repeatedly criticized the Administration's flawed Iraq strategy, calling it the "greatest strategic and tactical foreign policy failure in 30 years."

She's pushed hard to hold the policy's architects accountable. Appearing on CNN in February, Harmans called on President Bush to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, describing his tenure as "very damaging to the United States."

Harman has been especially vocal about the Administration's failure to develop a strategy for exiting Iraq. In a March 8 letter to the President, she wrote, "your continuing failure to clarify US intentions provides an excuse for certain Iraqis to avoid compromise and jeopardizes our ability to succeed." And in an op-ed article she authored last year, Harman stressed that "President Bush should... make clear that U.S. policy is to leave Iraq completely."

Finally, Harman has led the charge in Congress to investigate the Administration's intelligence failures. She pushed the House Intelligence Committee to "follow the truth wherever it may lead," and in 2004, she introduced and passed legislation to reform the Intelligence Community, in order to prevent a repeat of the mistakes that led to the Iraq invasion.

Protecting Civil Liberties

Congresswoman Harman has been a vocal opponent of the Bush Administration's policies regarding torture and indefinite detention without access to counsel. And, she has vehemently objected to the Administration's illegal government wiretapping of American citizens.

Harman authored legislation to ban torture and all "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" treatment of prisoners held by the United States. Identical legislation, introduced by Sen. John McCain, passed Congress in 2005.

When the President revealed his domestic wiretapping program, Harman pressed the White House to fully inform the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about the scope of the program. Working with Congresswoman Barbara Lee, she proposed legislation requiring the Administration to turn over all legal opinions used to justify the wiretapping, as well as all intelligence products based on warrantless surveillance.

Harman has also led efforts to modify or eliminate controversial provisions of the so-called Patriot Act. She co-sponsored the SAFE Act, endorsed by the ACLU as the primary vehicle for correcting the excesses of the Patriot Act. She proposed amendments tightening the legal standard the government must satisfy before searching personal records, and strengthening judicial oversight over wiretaps. And, she supports banning the government from using secret administrative subpoenas to obtain library records.