Denounce Torture

Earlier this month, the Senate amended pending legislation to clarify how U.S. troops treat individuals held in U.S. custody and to affirm the country’s ban on the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. While this is an important victory, there is now a danger that this legislation could be revised again. We need your help to ensure that the amendment is retained and that the President signs this legislation into law.

Act now: Help Ensure a Victory Towards Stopping Torture and Ill-Treatment!

The Independent Online reports:

"The United States is inviting independent human rights experts from the United Nations to visit detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, almost four years after the UN first asked permission to inspect the prison.

"The prison has become one of the symbols of the ongoing controversy over detainee abuse by the US military. About two dozen prisoners are on hunger strikes to protest what they say is cruel and inhumane treatment."

See "UN team to probe abuse at Guantanamo Bay."

NPR's Morning Edition reported on how the release of documents have shed light on the case of Manadel al-Jamadi, who died in CIA custody in Iraq. Fred Hitz, former CIA Inspector General commented in an interview with NPR reporter John McChesney: 

"...if it is believed that there is some flexibility in the system, it will lead to abuses. It's bound to."

See "Documents Shed Light on Abu Ghraib Death."

This Op-Ed by Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen was originally published in Wednesday's Post.  The Miami Herald printed it again this morning:

"Stunningly, George W. Bush has threatened to veto [Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) proposed amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill to establish uniform guidelines for treatment of detainees and affirm the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment]. Bush has vetoed not one bill in all of his presidency but would, he says, veto this one. The threat borders on the preposterous, or maybe the idiotic, because it is hard to imagine any president vetoing a measure that forbids torture, given the black eye that the United States has received over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. After that, Bush would have to issue his veto in the middle of the night and have it recorded in invisible ink. I'd leave it to Karen Hughes to explain it to the Islamic world."

By way of Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and TPM Cafe blogger:

From The Washington Post:

"Vice President Cheney is aggressively pursuing an initiative that may be unprecedented for an elected official of the executive branch: He is proposing that Congress legally authorize human rights abuses by Americans." [emphasis added.]

From The New York Times:

"This week, Vice President Dick Cheney proposed a novel solution for the moral and legal problems raised by the use of American soldiers to abuse prisoners and the practice of turning captives over to governments willing to act as proxies in doing the torturing. Mr. Cheney wants to make it legal for the Central Intelligence Agency to do this wet work."

Human Rights Watch's Washington Director Tom Malinowski said in a press statement yesterday:

"The administration is setting a dangerous example for the world when it claims that spy agencies are above the law."

See "U.S.: License to Abuse Would Put CIA Above the Law."

The Republican weighs in in favor of the White House leaving the McCain amendment as is:

"The land of the free and the home of the brave, the nation that is supposed to stand as a beacon of liberty against forces of oppression, wants to give a winking OK to torture. The Bush policy, in essence, would say that torturing prisoners is not permitted - except when it is permitted."

See "Prisoner torture rules must not be ignored."

The ACLU recently obtained autopsies and death reports of detainees held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.  According to a statement released yesterday by the organization, 21 out of the 44 autopsies and death reports were homicides.  ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero stated:

"There is no question that U.S. interrogations have resulted in deaths.  High-ranking officials who knew about the torture and sat on their hands and those who created and endorsed these policies must be held accountable.  America must stop putting its head in the sand and deal with the torture scandal that has rocked our military."

See "U.S. Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq."

The White House is urging Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to allow the CIA to be exempted from a proposed amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill to establish uniform guidelines for treatment of detainees and affirm the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.  Rights groups have criticized the administration for interpreting international agreements banning torture as not applicable to abuse and ill treatment committed by the CIA. According to Washington director of Human Rights First Elisa Massimino:

"That's why the McCain amendment is important, and that's why this language they're floating now would gut it."

See "White House Seeks Exception in Abuse Ban."

At Amnesty International's Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference in Philadelphia, human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith said to a crowd of several hundred Amnesty activists:

"The number of prisoners in Guantanamo who are innocent is shocking."

Stafford Smith represents dozens of people scooped up in the U.S.-led "war on terror" that are currently detained at the U.S. detention facility at Gitmo. 

See "Lawyer tells Amnesty meeting tale of a Guantanamo detainee."

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said before a gathering of more than 4,000 attendees at a West Point dinner:

"There is a lot of confusion about what rules apply [...] It is harder when elected leaders are silent."

See "O'Connor calls for clearer laws on interrogation of prisoners."

This week, Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, stated that "decision-making problems" at the White House led to abuse and ill treatment in the U.S.-led "war on terror."  According to the The Financial Times, Wilkerson charged:

"The detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was 'a concrete example' of the decision-making problem, with the president and other top officials in effect giving the green light to soldiers to abuse detainees. 'You don't have this kind of pervasive attitude out there unless you've condoned it.'"

See "Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy."

At this year's Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, Amnesty International USA will present The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, one of the most acclaimed investigative reporters of the past four decades, with a special focus on the abuse of power in the name of national security. Hersh, who broke the story of U.S. torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in May 2004, will speak at the closing plenary on Sunday, 12:40-2 p.m.

Get more details.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbor stated in an interview on Thursday:

"It is appalling that even now we are entering an era where we are even revisiting this [legal and moral] terrain [...]There are no circumstances where recourse to torture can ever be justified. End of debate."

See "There are no circumstances that justify torture: Arbour."

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said today that new images of abuse and ill treatment by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan serve as:

"...another argument to make sure that our men and women in the military know exactly what the parameters are for what they can and cannot do in regards to prisoners."

See "Abuse Charges at Bad Time for White House."

Join the chat on on The Washington Post's website today at 11:00.

If you missed last night's Frontline documentary, The Torture Question, you can now view it online.

Tony Perry, staff writer for The Los Angeles Times, called the documentary:

"...a work of straight-down-the-line journalism, not advocacy, and both sides are heard. If there is a point of view peeking through, it comes at the end when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a sponsor of the anti-torture bill, is given the last word: '... you can't become your enemy in the name of defeating your enemy.'"

See "'The Torture Question' applies a delicate touch."

In The Torture Question, Frontline traces the history of how decisions made in Washington in the immediate aftermath of September 11 led to a robust interrogation policy that laid the groundwork for prisoner abuse in Afghanistan; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Iraq.

The Frontline producers interviewed more than 30 direct participants in the story, pored over thousands of pages of documents, examined hundreds of pictures and videotapes, and traveled to the American prisons at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib to produce the documentary.

Learn more about The Torture Question and check local listings.

Amnesty International UK issued a press release today condemning an agreement on the treatment of people deported to Libya from the UK.  UK Director Kate Allen said:

"Torture and suspicious deaths in custody are still being reported in Libya and it’s dangerously misguided to expect countries with a known record of torturing people to respect bits of paper promising not to torture.

"The government has a duty to prevent any repeat of the London bombings outrage but going soft on torture is not the answer to terrorism.

"The government should abandon this policy of trying to find a way around the international ban on torture and instead concentrate on condemning the torture of prisoners in places like Libya."

See "Reaction to news of UK 'no torture' deal with Libya."

With the fate of legislation that would establish uniform guidelines for future treatment of detainees still hanging in the balance, The Washington Post asked today: "What about an independent commission investigation of detainees' allegations of torture since 2001?"  According to the Post editorial:

"We're willing to make a prediction: Some day there will be an exhaustive investigation of how and why prisoners were abused after 2001, and accountability will be assigned to the senior officers and officials who now hide behind their subordinates and inspector generals. Like the internment of ethnic Japanese during World War II or the CIA's involvement in Cold War-era coup plots and assassinations, government acts so at odds with fundamental American standards will eventually be exposed and disowned by our democracy. Yet it would be much better for the legacy of President Bush, and this Republican Congress, if that honest accounting were to begin now, rather than after they have left office. The opportunity exists: Mr. Levin and his amendment are waiting."

See "A Future Investigation."

We've just received the following update in the case of Sami al-Laithi:

"Sami al-Laithi, who was returned to Egypt by the US authorities during the weekend of 1-2 October, is now known to have been hospitalized on arrival. He returned to his family on 7 October."
 
"When he arrived at Cairo airport, he was reportedly taken immediately in an ambulance to Cairo's Qasr al-Aini hospital. It is not clear what kind of treatment he received there. He is now with his family in al-Gharbiyah Governorate."

Here is an excerpt from another editorial on the recent Senate vote to approve a ban on torture.  The editorial appears in the latest edition of The Nation :

"The Senate's passage of the amendment stands as a singular legislative attempt to corral Bush into compliance with international law and human rights standards. McCain's legislation, which would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" by the military, bears the unmistakable moral authority of Vietnam POW McCain and Vietnam vet Senator Chuck Hagel and the strategic endorsement of more than two dozen retired senior military officers, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili. No longer can the White House pretend that for the sake of national security Congress has acquiesced in torture. The most shocking aspect of the McCain amendment is not the bill's content but the White House's threat of a veto in the face of near-unanimous Senate support. Even if Administration arm-twisting brings a challenge in the House-Senate conference committee, the overwhelming margin of the Senate vote sends an important message to the federal courts about legislative intent--and further isolates the Administration."

See "Torture on the Hill."

The Concord Monitor: 'We are not simply any other country'

Includes excerpts from McCain's remarks in support of the amendment.

The Palm Beach Post: Approve ban on torture

"At its simplest, President Bush's comparison between the United States and our terrorist opponents comes down to this: We're better than they are. So why has he threatened to veto a bill that would draw such a distinction?"

The Cavalier Daily: White House ghosts of Abu Ghraib

"Instead of rallying for an independent investigation to find out exactly what went wrong at Abu Ghraib in order to prevent it from happening again, Bush is instead undermining the bipartisan measure to begin to repair the damage. By opposing the measure, the White House is rejecting the opportunity to restore the damage done to the world's view of the United States by Abu Ghraib, affirm America's commitment to international human rights standards and protect U.S. troops by clarifying procedures and standards regarding the treatment of prisoners."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The veto as a vote for abuse

"Last week, the White House tried in vain to prevent Senate passage of a military spending bill on the ground that it would limit President Bush's flexibility. It's true the measure would do this - but the choice Bush wants to preserve is both morally repugnant and ineffective. In short, the measure deprives him of an option that is not worth preserving."

The Winston-Salem Journal: A Vote for America

"Nothing has so damaged American self-esteem as the scandals surrounding abuse of POWs in Iraq and Cuba. The United States of America is not Imperial Japan, it is not communist North Vietnam, and it is not Nazi Germany. Americans pride themselves on their humanity and their respect for human rights. Americans cannot abide torture."

Working for Change: Senate shows independence

"This is an issue that is impervious to whether one supports or opposes the military efforts in Afghanistan or Iraq. If in any way we fail to demand that the House follow the Senate's lead, we risk becoming de facto supporters of torture."

"What's at stake goes well beyond how we treat detainees -- it is the very soul of our nation. We the people can ill afford to remain armchair patriots."

Last week, the Senate passed an amendment offered by Senator John McCain to the Department of Defense appropriations bill to establish uniform guidelines for treatment of detainees and affirm the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

There is still important work to be done to seal this principle. The House and Senate have different versions of the Defense appropriations bill, requiring the legislation to go to a “conference committee” that will reconcile the two versions and agree on a final text. It is crucial that the Senators and Representatives who are assigned to the conference committee retain the McCain amendment as is. There is a danger that the amendment could be revised to be harmful and contrary to the treaty against torture and to U.S. principles. We will need to keep the pressure on to ensure the “conferees” retain the McCain amendment as is for the final version of the bill and that the President signs it into law.

What you can do next:
Call the chair and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the Subcommittees on Defense Appropriations. To do this, simply call the Capitol Hill switch board: (202) 224 - 3121 and ask to be connected to one of the following legislators (calling each of them is welcome):

* Senator Tad Cochran (Republican – Mississippi): Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee
* Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat – West Virginia): Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee
* Senator Ted Stevens (Republican - Alaska): Chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the Senate
* Senator Daniel Inouye (Democrat - Hawaii): Ranking Member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the Senate

* Representative Jerry Lewis (Republican – California): Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee
* Representative David R. Obey (Democrat – Wisconsin): Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee
* Representative Bill Young (Republican – Florida): Chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House
* Representative John Murtha (Democrat – Pennsylvania): Ranking Member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House

What to ask:
* Ask them to ensure the McCain amendment is retained as is by the conference committee and to encourage the President to sign it into law.
* Tell them the United States must stand without exception for the principle of human decency and against the use of torture and other forms cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
* Also, take the opportunity to reiterate support for Congress to establish a fully independent commission to investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment by agents of the U.S. Government around the world.

The Senate's recent vote in favor of a bill that would ban torture continues to generate approving editorials nationwide. Here are some of the last few days' highlights:

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

"As Sen. Graham pointed out: "We take this moral high ground to make sure that if our people fall into enemy hands, we'll have the moral force to say, 'You have got to treat them right.' If you don't practice what you preach, nobody listens."

"That argument is irrefutable, which is why more than two dozen former high-ranking military officers, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, support the amendment. Their distinguished ranks are a reminder the United States does not have to stoop to abuse in order to defeat terrorism."

The Philadelphia Daily News:

"Since the bill passed by the U.S. House doesn't contain the language, it could be removed in conference. If it isn't, President Bush could veto it. That's why, McCain says, Americans must keep up pressure on their representatives to take a stand. It's not about who the terrorists are, he says. It's about who we are."

"The al Cheit prayer always is recited in the first person plural. The entire community must take responsibility, and make amends, for the sins we have committed through the acts of individuals."

The Portland Press Herald:

"[The Senate approval of an amendment to set new standards for the treatment of military detainees in U.S. government custody] is a victory for the United States, however, and a win that could restore pride in those who believe we live a society that values humane treatment of all people, even those who are terrorists or are suspected of terrorist activity."

The Los Angeles Times:

"The House of Representatives should sign on to the Senate amendment, understanding that it can help prevent atrocities such as Abu Ghraib and lessen the danger that captured U.S. troops will be mistreated. And then the president should sign the bill and show that he, too, understands that how we fight this war is just as important as winning it."

Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

"The amendment at last addresses prisoner abuse that first came to light in a glaring way in 2003, in photographs taken at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. While the U.S. military has prosecuted a few low-ranking soldiers for the abuse, military leaders have not been held accountable."

Last week, controversial deputy U.S. attorney general nominee Timothy Flanigan withdrew his name from consideration for the post.  According to a statement made by Christopher E. Anders, an ACLU Legislative Counsel:

"While Flanigan may fade away from the spotlight, lawmakers must continue to focus on the decisions that led to interrogation policies that abandon the rule of law. Low-ranking individuals like Private Lynndie England have been charged and sentenced, but the higher-ups that crafted these policies have gotten off scot-free. We renew our call on Attorney General Gonzales to appoint an independent, impartial special counsel to investigate the torture and abuses scandal. It is the only way to assure the public that this government is committed to demanding accountability, eliminating abusive interrogation procedures and restoring the rule of law."

See "Controversial Justice Department Nominee Withdraws From Consideration."

The Florida Sentinel yesterday called legislation passed by the U.S. Senate last week that would limit abuse of prisoners in military custody:

"Basic steps to preventing scandals such as the one at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and to bolstering America's reputation as a leader on human rights. They also would strengthen the U.S. position in demanding humane treatment for its own captured troops."

See "Avoiding another Abu Ghraib."

While last night marks an important victory in our work to stop torture, there is still more to do.  The House and Senate have different versions of the Defense appropriations bill, requiring the legislation to go a “conference committee” that will reconcile the two versions and agree on a final text. It is crucial that the Senators and Representatives who are assigned to the conference committee retain the McCain amendment as is. There is a danger that the amendment could be revised to be harmful and contrary to the treaty against torture. We will need to keep the pressure on to ensure the “conferees” retain the McCain amendment as is for the final version of the bill and that the President signs it into law.

Learn more about what you can do.

Last night we had an important victory in our work to stop torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the context of the U.S.-led "war on terror." By an overwhelming vote of 90-9, the Senate passed an amendment offered by Senator John McCain to the Department of Defense appropriations bill to establish uniform guidelines for treatment of detainees and affirm the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

This success would not have been possible without the help of grassroots activists like you. Our collective efforts through petitions drives, phone calls, emails, letters, and lobby visits to Members of Congress are making a difference - last night reinforced that fact!

Egyptian national Sami al-Laithi was returned to Egypt over the October 1-2 weekend, where he is now feared to be at grave risk of torture, ill-treatment, unfair trial and other serious human rights violations. Amnesty International does not know what, if any, assurances the U.S. authorities had obtained from the Egyptian authorities about how he would be treated. Urge Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to monitor the treatment of Sami al-Laithi.

Take action now: Protest the "Extraordinary Rendition" of Sami al-Laithi from the US to Egypt

Egyptian national Sami al-Laithi was returned to Egypt over the October 1-2 weekend. He is feared to be at grave risk of torture, ill-treatment, unfair trial and other serious human rights violations. Amnesty International does not know what, if any, assurances the U.S. authorities had obtained from the Egyptian authorities about how he would be treated. The Egyptian authorities reportedly deny that he has been handed over to them.

Take action now: Denounce Torture of Former Guantanamo Detainee Sami al-Laithi in Egypt