We need to let them know torture is not negotiable

[Alcibiades]

It looks as if the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is about to release a report that will recommend that the government should not prosecute the Bush administration officials who authored memos endorsing torture. The story is at the link below:

http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_12302246


If this is a trial balloon, folks who don't think that the US government should be torturing should shoot it down, ASAP. Below is a draft letter that folks can edit. We should write to the President, the Attorney General, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Patrick Leahy, and the House Committee on the Judiciary Committee, John Conyers. Letters to the latter two should be addressed to "Dear Mr. Chairman." Letters to the President should be addressed "Dear Mr. President," and letters to the Attorney General should be addressed "Dear Mr. Attorney General."


May 6, 2009

Re: Office of Professional Responsibility Recommendations not to prosecute torture endorsers

Dear ________________,

On May 5, it became apparent that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility will likely recommend that the government should not prosecute Bush Administration officials who provided the legal arguments that were used to allow torture of prisoners in the custody of the United States Government. This is a terrible mistake:

* Failure to prosecute these officials would constitute a violation of the UN Convention Against Torture, an agreement to which the United States is a signatory.

* The various persons authorized by these memos to conduct torture on the government's behalf now have an earnest belief that torture is legal: we certainly should disabuse them of this notion before they seek employment elsewhere in intelligence or law enforcement.

* It has also been charged that the torturers were mainly concerned with finding alink between Iraq and 9-11. Without an adequate judicial process, the public, and history, will be denied a full inquiry into a dark chapter in American history when, it is alleged, a president led the nation into a war of choice for political reasons.

* Failure to prosecute those who sanctioned torture will show that this administration endorses torture, and will raise questions about its dedication to the rule of law.

* The torture conducted endangered our nation's security and our troops, as it became a new source of outrage and a recruiting tool for terrorists.

There is no compelling legal rationale for failing to enforce the law. This administration has already declared that it will not prosecute Americans who followed illegal orders, and now it appears that it will not prosecute those who issued those orders. The millions of Americans who gave the current administration a mandate for change want our country back: we want to live in a country where the rule of law is a fundamental principle, where international treaties are respected, and where equality before the law prevails, even when the criminals are well-connected government lawyers.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME HERE



ADDRESSES:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Comments: [phone]
Switchboard: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

E-mail contact form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/


Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001


Office of the Attorney General: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]



Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell Senate Office Bldg
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Phone: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]



Representative John Conyers
2426 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515

phone: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]