[Peace-discuss] Fwd: New York Times editorial links to NRCAT materials on President's threatened veto of anti-torture provision

Tue Mar 4 16:37:02 CST 2008

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: National Religious Campaign Against Torture <nrcatlist at nrcat.org>
Date: Mar 3, 2008 11:25 AM
Subject: New York Times editorial links to NRCAT materials on President's
threatened veto of anti-torture provision
To: barkes at gmail.com

      TORTURE IS A MORAL ISSUE

To the Participating Members Council

Dear Friends:

Some terrific news! *The New York Times* published a wonderful editorial
yesterday, which is below our names, calling on the President to sign, not
veto, the anti-torture provision of the Intelligence Authorization Bill. In
the web version of the editorial, they have a link to "Opponents of Mr.
Bush's Policy<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=aA3ZQmsDAj6WSd7oLwMB1MwQfkSSQkkR>"
that takes the reader to NRCAT's press releases that includes a letter that
four senior religious leaders sent to the President urging him not to veto.

You are encouraged to use the letter as you wish. You are also encouraged to
use an op-ed that five leaders, including Bishop Wenski of the United States
Catholic Conference, endorsed on the veto. The op-ed follows *The New York
Times *editorial. Included in the press releases linked by *The New York
Times *is also a letter sent by ten denominations and faith groups to the
President.

Please continue to encourage your constituents to go to the NRCAT web site
to send an email to the White House urging the President to sign, not veto,
the anti-torture provision. The President is expected to veto the bill on
Wednesday.

This is a very important time in our work together to end
U.S.-sponsoredtorture.  Thank you for your efforts.

Linda Gustitus, President, NRCAT
Richard Killmer, Executive Director, NRCAT

##############################################################################
March 2, 2008

EDITORIAL* - THE NEW YORK TIMES*
* Horrifying and
Unnecessary*<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=w9%2F4PITht2O%2B2aWRX%2F2ZUswQfkSSQkkR>

In the next few days President Bush is expected to again claim the right to
order mistreatment of prisoners that any civilized person would regard as
torture.

Mr. Bush is planning to veto a law that would require the C.I.A. and all the
intelligence services to abide by the restrictions on holding and
interrogating prisoners contained in the United States Army Field Manual.
Mr. Bush says the Army rules are too restrictive.

What are these burdens? In addition to a blanket prohibition of torture, the
manual specifically bans:
¶ Forcing a prisoner to be naked, perform sexual acts or pose in a sexual
manner.
¶ Placing hoods or sacks over the head of a prisoner, and using duct tape
over the eyes.
¶ Applying beatings, electric shocks, burns or other forms of physical pain.
¶ Waterboarding.
¶ Using military working dogs.
¶ Inducing hypothermia or heat injury.
¶ Conducting mock executions.
¶ Depriving a prisoner of necessary food, water or medical care.

Such practices have long been prohibited by American laws and international
treaties respected by Republican and Democratic presidents. Mr. Bush,
however, declared that he was unbound by the laws of civilization in
responding to the barbarism of Sept. 11, 2001. And reports soon surfaced
about the abuse of prisoners at detention centers in Afghanistan, the Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq and secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons.

Finally, in 2006, a compliant, Republican-controlled Congress outlawed the
kinds of abuse and torture that Mr. Bush's lawyers had turned into
government policy. Unfortunately, Congress applied the prohibitions only to
the military, and Mr. Bush immediately made clear that he would issue
whatever orders he wanted to the intelligence agencies. In response,
Congress approved an amendment to the intelligence budget bill this year
that binds those agencies to the same rules as the military.

 Opponents of Mr. Bush's
policies<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=jU0AsX1mdBxBEC3pgdirRkB7nCjmZimf>on
prisoners have long argued that it is immoral, dangerous and
counterproductive to abuse and torture prisoners. We do not hold out much
hope that the president will heed our last, urgent plea not to veto this
bill.

We urge him to read the Army Field
Manual<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=jwI4HMdclyMhHBFUbR0grswQfkSSQkkR>,
which says: "Use of torture by U.S. personnel would bring discredit upon the
U.S. and its armed forces while undermining domestic and international
support for the war effort. It could also place U.S. and allied personnel in
enemy hands at greater risk of abuse."

He could listen to 43 retired
generals<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2tNPlyPfDfgLOv4fNDKgucwQfkSSQkkR>or
a bipartisan
coalition<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BKfb%2FGK83pdPITLaAp%2BHtswQfkSSQkkR>of
18 former members of Congress, secretaries of state and national
security
officials who all supported the anti-torture amendment.

He could check the testimony of Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the
Defense Intelligence Agency, who told Congress last week that waterboarding
violated the Geneva Conventions.

Or he could read the letter that Gen. David
Petraeus<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=bSVUj%2BPjKFzNwM1JQk9yHswQfkSSQkkR>,
the commander in Iraq, wrote to his troops.

"Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or
other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy," General
Petraeus wrote. "They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such
actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither
useful nor necessary."

##############################################################################
* End the Torture Nightmare
An Op-Ed *

By Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Rev. Dr. Richard J Mouw,
Rabbi David Saperstein and Bishop Thomas G. Wenski

Last month Congress moved to restore America's moral reputation by voting to
end the CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques" program  -- the program that
admittedly has used waterboarding on at least three terrorist suspects and
has likely used other torture techniques on unknown others.  The President
has said he will veto the good work of the Congress.  We call on him not to
veto this legislation.

Nothing could be more urgent in a democratic society than to uphold the
fundamental values of democracy. No branch of government, including our
intelligence services, can be made an exception to this rule.  "Enhanced"
interrogation practices - like waterboarding, hypothermia, long-time
standing, sleep deprivation and the use of psychotropic drugs - contradict
our democratic values as well as essential principles of morality and faith.

Torture is an intrinsic evil.  It exercises a corrosive effect on the very
fabric of our society.  It is to be rejected not only for the profound
damage it wreaks upon the victim, but also because of the damage it
inflicts, spiritual and physical, on those who are called upon to practice
it and on the citizens of the country in whose name it is done.   It
contradicts the rule of law which must be a focal virtue for any society
that seeks the security and well-being of its citizens.

The experience of humanity is clear: once torture has been permitted, it
will spread. It will not be confined to rare cases.  It will be broadly
applied, despite all efforts to hold it in check. A society that embraces
torture must inevitably accept moral breakdown as the outcome of its
decision.

America's historic answer is aligned with the view of communities of faith:
torture must be repudiated absolutely. There can be no exceptions to this
rule.  It is a rule that unites religious conscience with reason. As
religious leaders, we are committed to protecting the life and dignity of
every human person.

The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2008, approved last week by the Senate
and sent to the President for signature, would prohibit cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment of terrorist suspects by applying the prohibition on
torture outlined in the Army Field Manual.  Among other things, the Field
Manual incorporates the "golden rule" standard.  Interrogators are to engage
in no conduct that they would consider abusive if applied to an American
prisoner.  This measure would go a long way toward ending the shame of our
nation by abolishing abusive forms of interrogation. It would help the U.S.
to regain the moral high ground and restore our credibility in the
international community.

To our dismay President Bush argues that the intelligence services should be
able to operate in the shadows and must be given broad latitude in selecting
and developing new tools.  Congress has acted, however, because it
understands and reflects the core convictions of the American people and of
the major religious communities to stand firmly against torture and abuse.

The public debate surrounding torture has focused on narrow questions of
effectiveness. Yet even a test of efficacy must measure more than supposed
short-term benefits, however unlikely even those may be. It must test how
the use of these tools affects our nation's reputation in the world abroad.
It must ask whether a reputation for abusive interrogation undermines
alliances upon which our security must rest and serves as a recruiting tool
for the very people who would harm us. How can an instrument of defense be
effective if its use causes us to surrender fundamental values and degrades
our self-understanding as a nation?  The tools we use must reflect our
religious values and most cherished ideals.

We urge President Bush to sign the Intelligence Authorization Act.  Let him
put an end to our national nightmare over torture.  Let America assume a
position on the right side of history, morality and faith.

Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon
General Secretary
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Dr. Ingrid Mattson,
President
Islamic Society of North America

Rev. Dr. Richard J Mouw
President
Fuller Theological Seminary

Rabbi David Saperstein
Director and Counsel
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Most Rev. Thomas G. Wenski
Bishop of Orlando
Chairman, Committee on International Justice and Peace
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

*You have received this message because you endorsed the "Torture is a Moral
Issue" statement of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture OR you
signed up to receive more information from NRCAT.*

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