two poorgradstudents

I think that I’ll write about why I’ve gotten involved with Amnesty International soon, but in the meantime, here’s the text of an email that they recently circulated with links that allow you to contact your local Senators.  It’s all quite easy to do and, I think, quite important.

As the Bush administration moves forward with torture-tainted kangaroo courts at Guantánamo Bay, a major Senate vote on torture is at hand. Tell the Senate to vote against torture!

Dear supporter,

Torture can never lead to justice. That’s the powerful message we need to send to the Bush administration and the U.S. Senate right now.

Even as the Senate prepares for a crucial vote restricting the CIA and other U.S. agents from using waterboarding and other unlawful techniques, the Pentagon is moving forward with torture-tainted show trials for six detainees at Guantánamo Bay suspected of conspiring in the September 11 attacks.

The Senate vote could come as soon as Thursday. Tell the Senate that torture is intolerable and that it undermines justice at every turn.
The heinous attacks on September 11, 2001 were crimes against humanity. Anyone involved must be brought to justice. But, the truth is, the U.S. government has – at every turn –undermined the opportunity for justice for the victims of those attacks.

They did it by first disappearing the suspects into secret CIA prisons, torturing “high value” suspects for information and then passing off that information as “evidence”. Unconscionably, they have shifted the spotlight from justice for the victims of the September 11 attacks to the illegal behavior of the United States.

Tell the Senate that torture is intolerable and that it undermines justice at every turn.

As one former Navy admiral and judge advocate general put it, “Once you torture someone, it’s hard to untorture him.”

If enough Senators have the courage to act, we can take a huge step forward in ending U.S. torture. The Senate bill restricting the CIA and other agents from using waterboarding and similar techniques could come for a vote as early as this Thursday.

Please take action today:
and if you have time, make a follow-up phone call to your Senator. You can find the number to call and talking points here.

We’ll keep you posted on how things turn out. Thanks so much for all you do in promoting justice and protecting human rights.

Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Exectutive Director
Amnesty International USA

P.S. Last week we sent an Amnesty legal observer to monitor the pre-trials at Guantánamo Bay; listen to her on-the-ground report.

P.P.S. Read Amnesty International’s just-released report on torture and secret detention.