U.S. religious groups want Obama to ban torture

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A coalition of more than 200 religious groups urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to sign an order, once he takes office, banning torture by any federal government entity.

"This is an opportunity where one official could ... with one stroke of a pen, really change history here," said Linda Gustitus, president of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

The group, which has been pressing the issue since 2006, also wants the U.S. Congress to establish a special committee to investigate the use of what the Bush administration has called "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on terrorism suspects detained after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

President George W. Bush has said the United States does not practice torture. But the Central Intelligence Agency has admitted using waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, on three occasions. Critics consider waterboarding torture.

"We want a full accounting," Gustitus said in a telephone briefing from Washington. "We know that we tortured people ... the country needs to come to grips with this."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4AB6...

[JuniperLea]

1. Now this is a worthy cause for religious groups!

I salute you!

[margotb822]

4. This is a religious coalition I can get behind

I think all Americans should be calling for this.

[Deep13]

17. Yeah, nonbelievers will never give up torture on their own.

Don't forget who was responsible for putting Bush in office in the first place: evangelical and conservative Catholic voters.

[annabanana]

19. touchy touchy

(Do you suffer from fundy childhood syndrome?)

[acmavm]

24. Yeah, it's all our fault. I hope that wall hurts.

[Ian David]

2. I agree, but not until after Karl Rove's "Deposition." n/t

[Lucky Luciano]

3. That actually made me laugh out loud for real!

[rhett o rick]

21. I laughed also. But plez add Cheney and Alberto to the list. Oh yeah and Rummy said he could stand

on a can for hours. Like to see that.

[margotb822]

5. What does the 8th Amendment do?

Are we enacting something new here or just getting back to our actual Constitution?

I think Obama should just follow the Constitution, and we won't have torture.

[pleah]

6. This I can agree with, but, why has it taken them so long? n/t

[sabra]

7. they've been pushing this for a few years...

[pleah]

9. Good to know.

Thanks for posting this thread.

[SpiralHawk]

8. "Gigadittoes on halting the heinous, immoral republicon torture fetish." - Jesus Christ

"Believe me, I suffered torture under the republicons of yesteryear, and it is definitely anti-Christian and anti-American."

- Jesus Christ

[nichomachus]

10. So they want terrorists to have more rights than gay people -- cool

[wroberts189]

11. love your pic .. fist jab ...new symbol for American unity :)

pubs head will explode

[gratuitous]

12. TAX THEM!!1!!11!!Eleven!

Participating in the political process like that, they should be taxed! Taxed, taxed, taxed! Ahhhhh!

{/}

Hmmm. Gee, it sounds kind of stupid when you try to put it into general practice. I mean, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless are also "political" acts, yet a lot of religious folks stubbornly keep doing it. Maybe the current policy/person dividing line is a good idea after all?

[vinylsolution]

13. To no one's great surprise....

.... Neither Focus on The Family nor the New Life Church have signed up to support this great cause.

But then I suppose both have spent years inflicting cruel and unusual punishments on my town ...

[totodeinhere]

14. There is no doubt that Obama will do just that.

It will be great so see us go back to the principles that once made this a great country, and hopefully after Obama has time to clean up shrub's mess this will be a great country once again.

[Wizard777]

15. Amen!

[Porschenut1066]

16. Bush Admin said that "US does not condone torture" this was defined by

Albert Gonzales to mean that anything the commander in chief said could be done could not be defined as torture and that torture was only techniques that the command in chief did not agree to. So since the command in chief did not 'condone' actions that he had not approved specifically the Admins policy was that "We do not condone torture" and "We have not conducted torture" etc.
These statements refer only to the Admins definition of what falls into the Torture category and since everything the commander in chief approved of was not torture they could not be said to "condone torture"

Of course the International Court follows the rules as set out by the Geneva Conventions. By those standards the US Admin is clearly guilty of War Crimes on an immense scale.

[Seldona]

18. It is already banned under international treaty.

I would be happy if he holds those involved in dragging us down to their level responsible. It is going to take one hell of a lot of balls to get it done though.

I am all for uniting the country again and gathering behind one amazing leader to finally get things done for people other than the rich and well connected. I just don't want the war criminals given a pass under the banner of 'bipartisanship.'

Because that is where these very desperate, and degenerate, individuals are going to take this. I hope we are ready. They are going to throw every trick in the book at Obama.

[Divine Discontent]

20. they've been voicing their righteous disgust about torture for years & I'm glad they're calling on O

to ban it and follow Intl. agreements on it already - B*sh is a war criminal - no question, not up for debate, slam the cell door.

Many different Yes We Did items in the Obama/Biden section www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[derby378]

22. Ban torture? Why not OUTLAW it instead?

You know, like we thought it had already been outlawed by the Constitution to begin with?

[file83]

23. Exactly - That's like saying "let's BAN murder". Oh, wait, what?

Let's BAN something that is already illegal here and everywhere...

How about, instead of BANNING torture, let's PROSECUTE the TORTURERS and all who ordered it, all the way up the chain of command!!!???