Weekly Torture Action Letter -Release All The Documents

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Welcome to the 12th in the Dog’s letter writing campaign series. This basic idea of this series is to write to decision and opinion makers every week to push for accountability on for the Bush era State Sponsored Torture program. The Dog writes the letters and provides the links for each week, you provide the action by either cutting and pasting the letter or by using its topic to write your own letter. This is a low level type of action but it is by being relentless and consistent that we keep the pressure on those who can either start investigations or take actions which will make the need for action clearer.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net”  

This week we will be going back to writing the President, with copies to AG Holder, Speaker Pelosi, House Judiciary Chairman Conyers, Senate Majority Leader Reid and the Justices of the Supreme Court.  

This week’s letter is addressed to President Obama, with CC to usual crowd.

Dear President Obama,

I write you again to urge you to take the steps that will assure there are investigations and accountability for Bush era State Sponsored Torture program. I understand your desire to have the Department of Justice and the Congress exert their respective authorities in this area, but it does not leave you out of the picture Mr. President.

Recently you decided that pictures due to be released this previous week were going to be so disruptive to our foreign policy objectives in the Middle East, it was better to resist the Appeals Courts order to release them. This was before accounts of documented sexual assault on detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan surfaced.

This revelation has to change the calculus here Mr. President. It is one thing to have rumors of such things out there, but it is quite another for a retired General to make the allegations in a British news paper. If these are the type of things you would have rather not confirmed to the world it is too late for the damage not to be done. What is needed now is to show the whole truth, no matter how shocking and take action against those who have covered it up to this point.

While the actual torture by waterboarding and other means is a legal one, the need for United States to own up to it’s actions is more than just that. We will never be able to wipe away the taint of the actions of the Bush administration until the full extent of those actions is known. It is also important that the world see us take the steps to investigate and punish those, regardless of their position in the former Administration, so the world can understand the United States commitment to the rule of law. No other example will restore our position to speak with a moral voice in the world.

At the DNC Convention last summer, President Clinton said something which is very true. He said “The power of our example is far greater than the example of our power”. President Obama, you have a chance to show this to be the case, but you must do the right thing and not allow the fear of divisiveness to prevent you from declassifying and making public all that you can about our treatment of prisoners in our wars.

Sir, the time for doing the right thing is quickly running out. Do not let the possible repercussions prevent you from doing the right thing both for our foreign policy and for the rule of law.

Sincerely,

CC:

AG Holder

Speaker Pelosi

Majority Leader Reid

Rep. John Conyers

Supreme Court Justices

There is the letter, below are the e-mail and snail mail links you can use to send this letter or one like it in your own words.

US Supreme Court, Attention All Justices –

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Bldg.

Washington, DC 20543

The White House, Attention President Obama

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Majority Leader Harry Reid

Department of Justice, attention AG Holder – [email protected]

Rep John Conyers – Judiciary Committee Chair

Please take a few minutes to make a difference on accountability for torture.

The floor is yours.