Weekly Torture Action Letter 21 – President Clinton, Time To Get Involved

Happy Monday and welcome the Dog’s on-going (never ending?) letter writing campaign series. This series, for those new to it, is all about getting accountability to the rule of law for the apparent Bush Administration state sponsored torture program. The basic premise is the Dog writes a letter each Monday to decisions makers, urging them to take action on this issue. How you get involved is by either cutting and pasting the letter so it goes out under your own name, or using it as a jumping off point for your own missive. Then you just use the links the Dog provides to send it around. It is, admittedly, a small thing, but it by being consistent and getting as many people as possible to write weekly we keep this issue alive when other things like Health Care reform are taking up most of the news.

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

This week we are going to try an outside shot. We will be sending a letter to former President Clinton. He is highly connected in Washington and while it would set the issue back for him to publicly call for investigations, he can be very effective working behind the scenes.

Here is the letter:

Dear President Clinton;

I am writing you today as a fellow citizen of the United States and to ask for your help on an issue that affects our entire nation. The issue the need for full scale investigations of the apparent Bush Administration state sponsored torture program. I say apparent because there is plenty of prima facie evidence in the public record to indicate there was torture and there was a conspiracy to commit torture.

As a lawyer, politician and former President you know better than most the need for the United States to follow its own laws. It has been famously said we are a nation of law and not men. For this to be true, then the law must be followed. Right now we are failing to live up to this necessary standard. Please understand, I am not politically naïve what the law requires of the Obama Administration is a very hard thing. It will ignite a political fire storm to even investigate senior Bush Administration officials.  However the law can not and should not be ignored because following it is hard. Doing the hard things in regards to accountability to the rule of law is one of the things politicians and Federal employees sign up for when they decide to serve.

In the past you have made comments that would seem to argue for the president to have the power to authorize the torture of a prisoner, with the caveat it would have to be taken before a Court, even if it were after the fact. Your point was there might be a time to do this heinous act, but there would always have to be accountability to the rule of law for it, even for a president acting in exigent circumstances. While I disagree there is ever are time when torture is justified, we do agree that if it happens it must be followed through the courts.

President Clinton, I am asking for you to make the case for just this type of follow through. I am not asking you to do it in public, because frankly Sir, if there were one thing which could make the firestorm from the Right rage any higher, it would be you publicly coming out in favor of investigations. However, Mr. President, you are, to put it mildly, incredibly well connected in Washington D.C, and throughout the nation. There are very, very few people who would not take your call, regardless of the topic. It through these means I ask you to act for the rule of law.

You have a personal relationship with Attorney General Holder. He is the key to this whole thing. He is the one who will decide if there should be a full scale criminal inquiry into the Bush Era detention and interrogation policies. I have no doubt your encouragement to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate both the DOJ involvement as well as the CIA and White House involvement in torture, it would carry weight. AG Holder is a good man and a good attorney; he is being pressured to do the expedient thing. He needs to be supported to do the right thing for our nation. You, Mr. President, are uniquely situated to provide that support.

Please, President Clinton, do not let the damage you successor did to this country extend to the degradation of the rule of law. Without it we are not truly a nation. Without the commitment that every person is the same under the law, regardless of their power or status, we are something less than what the Framers intended this nation to be. You can work to prevent this; I am asking as a fellow citizen that you do so.

Regards,

So, there is this week’s letter here is the contact link;

President Clinton

Be sure to choose the “Correspondence – Write President Clinton” choice from the drop down menu under Topic.

Now it is up to you! If you only write once in a while, please take the time to send this to President Clinton today. While the Dog is a fan of his, there is no doubt his ego can be engaged for this fight. The more of us who appeal to him, the more likely this is to happen.

The floor is yours.  

1 comment

  1. in our tool box if we are going to get real accountability.  

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