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Subject: An urgent message from Ramsey Clark on torture
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A message from Ramsey Clark:
'A free people will not permit torture' |
Dear joseph,
A free people will not permit torture. Throughout history, torture
has always been an instrument of tyranny. The very purpose of the Grand Inquisitor was to compel absolute obedience to authority.
Torture was the weapon he used in the struggle to force freedom to submit to authority.
Fear is the principal
element in both public acceptance of torture and individual submission to it. The frightened public is persuaded that only
torture can force confessions essential to prevent catastrophic acts—terrorism in the present context. The frightened
victim is persuaded torture will be unbearable, or be his death.
Franklin Roosevelt spoke truth when he said,
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Justice Black warned wisely, "We must not be afraid to be
free," dissenting in In re Anastaplo. Anastaplo was a law school classmate of mine who refused to
take a non-Communist oath, a requirement for admission to the Illinois bar at the time. We have failed to follow this wisdom,
a failure of faith urged by Lincoln at the then Cooper Institute: "Let us have faith that right makes might and in that
faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
At stake is our cultural insistence that
America has faith in freedom, that America is, or aspires to be, the land of the free and the home of the brave. At risk is
the image of America, which might become Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and rendition to torture chambers in client States.
Now we are confronted by the brutish and brazen mentality of Dick Cheney, only one of George W. Bush’s many
vices. Having concealed truth by refusing to release records and after the destruction of evidence, Cheney proclaims, "I
am very proud of what we did"—a war of aggression that has devastated
and fragmented Iraq and Afghanistan, and created a danger to peace in Pakistan and beyond. The same wars that have left 5,000
U.S. soldiers dead and maybe 30,000 with impaired lives, spread corruption within the Bush administration, politics in prosecutors
offices, the worst recession in 70 years caused by the failure to police his greedy friends and supporters, boasting of torture
by any other name.
Cheney wants us to believe "enhanced interrogation techniques," the phrase
he prefers to torture, "were absolutely essential" in successfully stopping another terrorist attack on the U.S.
after 9/11. This is utterly false, a matter of indifference to Cheney who may be getting desperate. These "enhanced interrogation
techniques" were, however, torture as defined in Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture of 1984, an international
treaty ratified by 184 nations, including the United States a decade late in 1994. The Convention, which is part of the supreme
law of the land under the U.S. Constitution, recognizes "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world," and "that these rights derive from the inherent
dignity of the human person."
Thus, the U.S. is treaty bound to prosecute all persons, high and low, who have
authorized, condoned or committed torture if our word in the international community is to mean anything.
The Convention
requires each signatory to ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under its criminal law. It requires prosecution, or
under specific conditions, extradition to another nation for prosecution of alleged torturers.
Former FBI agent
Ali H. Soufan is only one of the key U.S. intelligence and investigative officials directly involved in the key interrogations
who have publicly condemned the "enhanced interrogation techniques." He has explained how the practice not only
failed to obtain reliable or new information, but was also harmful. He concluded an op-ed article in the New York Times on
Sept. 6, which stated that "the professionals in the field are relieved that an ineffective, unreliable, unnecessary
and destructive program, one that may have given Al Qaeda a second wind and damaged our country’s reputation is finished."
The struggle to prosecute torture by U.S. agents is related to the struggle over health care legislation and troop
increases in Afghanistan. Real health care reform would end the theft of major national resources by the insurance industry,
pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and the wealth seeking medical profession at the expense of the lives and health of the
poor and middle class.
We should remember that a decade before he gave us "What is good for General Motors
is good tor the nation," Charles E. Wilson, once President of General Motors, and later Secretary of Defense under President
Eisenhower, wrote in the Army Ordinance Journal in 1944: "War has been inevitable in our human affairs as an evolutionary
force ... Let us make the three-way partnership (industry, government, army) permanent." Notice what comes first for
Wilson, whose credo was "Let us have faith that might makes right."
President Obama faces all three
of these challenges, torture in our name, health care and Afghanistan at once. If he fails to insist on full investigation
of torture and prosecution of all persons found to have authorized, directed or committed it, including George W. Bush and
Dick Cheney, he will lose all three, because his adversaries in each are the same.
We want to thank every member
of the IndictBushNow movement for their work. The announcement that a Special Prosecutor has been appointed to investigate
the crimes committed during the Bush administration is a critical step. It was the action taken by you and people all around
the country that made this possible. Now we will build on this momentum. The voice of the people must and will be heard.
Please continue to show your support for this nationwide movement to
save the Constitution with an urgently needed donation by clicking this link.
Sincerely,
Ramsey Clark
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ImpeachBush / VoteToImpeach
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| Washington Post
editorial calls for a prosecutor
The flood gates have been opened! |
| 
The July 27 Washington Post lead editorial calls
for Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a
prosecutor to "look at the
facts and apply the law."
| Dear joseph, We will succeed! The indictment and prosecution of those who committed crimes during the Bush era will soon become
a reality. Nothing is more important to restore the Constitution.
The flood gates have been opened because of
the massive grassroots intervention by you and hundreds of thousands of others who have petitioned, sent emails and letters,
and made phone calls that deluged the White House, Justice Department, Congress and the mass media.
The Washington
Post lead editorial today calls for Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a prosecutor to "look at the facts and apply
the law" for the "violent deaths of detainees" in U.S. custody.
This is a remarkable development.
The pressure to appoint a prosecutor will not go away until justice is served.
Once the prosecution opens, it
will lead inevitably to the doorsteps of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. It was they who ordered the torture, secret assassination
teams, the breathtaking massive spying operation against the American people and, most importantly, launched a war of aggression
in Iraq that led to the deaths of nearly 1 million people at the cost of nearly $2 trillion.
Now we are entering
the next stage of the IndictBushNow movement. We must guarantee that the truth be told—all the truth—and that
the prosecution not end with the indictment of low-level officials and operatives.
Please make an urgently needed
donation now so that we can sustain this national movement, place newspaper ads and provide the general public with the
full story of the unfolding details and revelations of the criminality of the Bush Administration.
We can’t
do it without you support. Please donate today by clicking this link.
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--From all of us at IndictBushNow.org
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UN investigator says U.S.
has "clear obligation" to prosecute
Leaked e-mails show Bush-Cheney directed
torture memos
According to newly leaked emails, in
2005 then Deputy Attorney General James Comey met with then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to express his "grave
reservations" with Justice Department memos vindicating the Bush-Cheney torture regime.
How did Gonzales
respond? He "explained that he was under great pressure from the Vice President to complete both memos, and that the
President had even raised it" with him the previous week. Here's the proof! For months, Bush administration officials
have asserted they were simply following legal advice -- now we know, from Gonzales himself, that these legal opinions were
produced on-demand. We need your help! Together, can stand up for the Constitution.
Bush and Cheney knew they were breaking the law. That's why they worked so hard to try to craft legal cover.
According to the Washington Post, Comey laid out a scenario to Gonzales in which Bush administration officials would
end up facing criminal prosecution. Comey reported, "I explained to him what this would look like some day and what
it would mean for the president and the government... I told him it would all come out some day." Please make an urgently needed donation to help the Indict Bush movement continue to grow.
Each revelation exposes a new layer of criminality, and people are starting to demand answers. On Tuesday, Sen.
Whitehouse took the Senate floor and said, “I want my colleagues and the American public to know that measured against
the information I have been able to gain access to, the story line we have been led to believe -- the story line about waterboarding
we have been sold --is false in every one of its dimensions.”
Already several Bush officials are hurling
towards the fate Comey anticipated: prosecution. Leandro Despouy, UN Special Rapporteur (investigator) on the independence
of judges and lawyers, made clear that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will "soon be in trouble for the role he played
in human rights abuses." (AFP) "Wherever [Rumsfeld] goes, he will face difficulties," Despouy told the press.
He asserted that Rumsfeld and Cheney's recent bout of defensiveness have nothing to do with defending the war on terror and
everything to do with their fear that they may be taken to task once Guantanamo is closed.
Full disclosure and
accountability are within reach of the American public, but it will require a sustained campaign to keep the pressure on.
There are more than a few Bush officials, including former Vice President Cheney, who will use their power and influence
to obstruct our access to the real story. We need your help to make prosecution a reality. We cannot let the
criminals get away. Please Donate Today
Please help us continue this work with a generous
donation. The truth is coming out and the pressure is building, but we can’t do it without your contribution.
Please click this link to donate today.
--From all of us at IndictBushNow.org
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Torture Photos Show Rapes of Detainees, Former Officer Confirms
The real reason Dick Cheney has become so loud: he's afraid
Cartoon by Tony Toles on Cheney and torture,
Washington Post
| | IndictBushNow.org has joined with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and
the ANSWER Coalition to demand that the truth be told. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the
CIA, Department of Defense, Department of State and other agencies to reveal information in their possession about al-Libi’s
imprisonment, torture, coerced false statements on Iraq and the circumstances of his death. To help support this effort, click here. |
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Each week brings shocking new revelations.
The U.S. mass media is not reporting on the most explosive story of the week.
The world now knows why
President Obama reversed his earlier decision to release the 2,000 photos of prisoners barbarically tortured, abused, and
humiliated under the direction of the Bush/Cheney gang.
Some of the photos of the prisoners show U.S. personnel
torturing, sexual assaulting and raping male and female detainees, including children. The existence of these photos was confirmed
by former Major General Antonio Taguba. Taguba had earlier been in charge of the inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.
On May 21, Cheney went on national television to defend torture and sickeningly attacked Obama for sacrificing
"innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things." We'd like to hear him explain how rape and
sexual assault are just "unpleasant things" that have spared innocent lives. The last few months has proven that
the abuses, the sexual assault, and the most barbaric violations of human rights cannot be attributed to a few bad apples.
Such tactics were commonplace, officially sanctioned and elevated to the level of government policy.
The torture
methods, like the war itself, have never been about saving lives. A recent column in the Nation echoed what IndictBushNow
reported last week: "The Bush administration, hellbent on justifying its forthcoming invasion of Iraq, was ransacking
the intelligence bureaucracy to find or produce two things that, it turns out, did not exist: weapons of mass destruction
programs in Iraq and cooperation between Al Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein."
The Iraqi people have
never waged war on the United States and no Iraqis took part in the attacks of 9/11. Bush & co. wanted to go to war, and
were just looking for an excuse.
So why, given the recent revelations, has Dick Cheney responded so publicly in
defense of the Bush administration's war crimes? He's afraid! He's not just concerned about preserving the administration's
"legacy" -- he's concerned about preserving his own neck.
Don't believe us? Take it from Cheney's daughter,
Liz, who recently explained her father's outspokenness on CNN: "He certainly did not plan when he left office to be doing
this... Then when [Obama] suggested in the Oval Office itself that he would be open to the prosecution of former Bush administration
officials including many who weren’t political appointees potentially, you know really, I think, made my dad realize
this was just fundamentally wrong. We had to speak out."
Our argument for prosecution is becoming irresistible.
The fact is that every revelation lays bare a whole new level of criminality. The more details come about the Bush administration's
heinous acts and deliberate deception of the American people, the more people are starting to talk about justice. Already,
many people who once said, "we need to move forward" are beginning to reconsider: no one can move forward until
we have come to terms with the country's past. That means accountability: the indictment of the criminals.
Please Donate
Today
Please help us continue this work with a generous donation.
The truth is coming out and the pressure is building, but we can’t do it without your contribution. Please click this link to donate today.
--From all of us at IndictBushNow.org
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| | Click here to subscribe. | | Dear joseph,
The investigation
and prosecution of Bush era officials must inevitably lead to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and other high officials.
When she was confronted by a student questioner last week, Condoleezza Rice defended torture with these words: “[By]
definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”
That argument will never hold up in court and it is not holding up with Stanford Alumni and students
either. They nailed a petition to the door of the president of the university that read:
“We the undersigned
students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other concerned members of the Stanford community, believe that high officials of the
U.S. Government, including our former Provost, current Political Science Professor, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow,
Condoleezza Rice, should be held accountable for any serious violations of the Law (included ratified treaties, statutes,
and/or the U.S. Constitution) through investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution, by appropriate legal authorities.”
This is part of the swelling grassroots movement for prosecution. The people, young and old, are taking action. This will
create an irresistible political force.
Please make an urgently needed donation to help this movement continue
to grow.
IndictBushNow and others are holding demonstrations, rallies, press conferences, engaging in lobbying, taking
out newspaper ads, and mass circulating the petition calling for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. We are providing
leaflets and petitions to people around the country.
We are printing 20,000 leaflets and posters for the
upcoming June 25 demonstration at the Justice Department that will call on Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor. All of this takes money. Please make your donation today.
It was high Bush officials who ordered the torture. The Justice Department lawyers must be held accountable
for their obscene and sadistic “legal memos,” but they are lower rung figures. They are the lawyerly equivalent
of the guards who tortured and savagely humiliated the prisoners at Abu Ghraib. They too were following the orders of even
bigger criminals.
Spain’s top investigative judge Baltazar Garzon has decided to pursue a new criminal investigation
of those responsible for authorizing, planning and executing the U.S. torture program. The case could lead to arrest warrants
in countries throughout Europe and it will put new pressure on the Obama administration to appoint a Special Prosecutor.
Congratulations to everyone who is working so hard in this pursuit of justice. Be sure to keep telling your friends
to sign the online petition calling for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. Sending the petition is easy to do by clicking this link.
-- From all of us at IndictBushNow
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