Over the past month, neither President
Bush nor Senator Kerry has raised this issue. And neither has said
whether or not they will continue the post-9/11 policy of U.S. impunity with regard to international law
prohibiting torture.
The candidates’ failure to address
the prisoner abuse scandal harms U.S. relations with the Muslim world,
especially in Iraq, puts our troops at further risk, and
makes us less safe and respected in the world.
TAKE ACTION NOW.
In the final days before the election,
make the Bush administration’s breach of international law a
Presidential Campaign issue.
You can make it happen by demanding: (1) a full investigation into U.S. handling of foreign prisoners by an
independent commission; (2) full accountability for all those
involved in the scandal, including senior U.S. administration officials and private
military contractors; and
(3) renewed U.S. commitment to human rights and
international law.
What you can do.
¨
Challenge
the Candidates. Contact their campaign offices.
Don’t let Senator Kerry or President Bush go another day
without addressing the issue of torture at U.S.-run prisons abroad.
¨
Speak
Out. Take advantage of radio call-in shows,
write a letter to the editor, raise your voice at public forums, and
protest.
¨
Sign
the Honor the Legacy petition. Join EPIC,
Amnesty International USA, Oxfam, Veterans for Common
Sense, and our other partners in urging President Bush
to honor America’s commitment to international
law.
To take action and support this campaign,
visit EPIC’s
ACTION CENTER today.
Sincerely,
Michelle Suwannukul
EPIC Campaign
Director
P.S. Spread the word by sending the
following link to your friends and encouraging them to join you in
demanding a just resolution to Abu Ghraib.
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=411
EPIC
Dispatch No. 201
Demand Just Resolution to Abu Ghraib
10/28/04
Calls for Just Resolution to Abu Ghraib
Intensify
Last June, President Bush declared:
“The United States is committed to the world-wide
elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call
on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations
in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and
in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment.â€
Four months later, not one senior official has been held accountable.
In recent days major newspapers have run
editorials and informed commentary demanding a just resolution to Abu
Ghraib. Now Amnesty International has
released a 200-page analysis of the practices and decisions that led to
torture in Iraq, and abuse in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Editorial: Abu Ghraib, Unresolved
New York Times, October 28, 2004
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=412
Op-ed: Promoting Abu Ghraib by Deborah
Pearlstein
The American Prospect, October 26, 2004
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=414
Editorial: Remember Abu Ghraib
Washington Post, October 15, 2004
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=413
“Call to Presidential Candidates
to commit to ending tortureâ€
Amnesty International, October 27, 2004
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511472004
Summary of Recent Investigations
Last May, a report by General
Antonio M. Taguba investigating
“sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses†at Abu
Ghraib was leaked to the press. That report and photos
of blatant abuse continues to cause controversy, leading to 6 more
Pentagon-appointed investigations. However, recent reports by
the Schlesinger commission and the internal Army review reveal the
limits of putting the Pentagon in charge of investigating itself. While
some of these reports criticize top officials, the role U.S. policy played in the mistreatment and
torture of detainees has not been addressed by a single investigation.
That is why EPIC believes a
Congressionally-mandated independent commission is required. Until
justice is served, you can rely on EPIC
to track completed and ongoing investigations into U.S. military abuses at detention facilities
abroad.
For an up-to-date list of investigations
and key findings, go to:
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=410
Chain of Command
Few reporters impact the American
political agenda like Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Sy
Hersh. In “Chain of
Command†(New Yorker 5/17/04), Hersh scrutinizes U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his “impatience with military
protocol†regarding prisoners caught in the course of military
operations. Flipping the “few bad apples†scenario on
its head, Hersh reports how actions taken by a powerful few created a
command environment that led to systemic abuse of prisoners at Abu
Ghraib and other U.S.-run facilities abroad. Although the Pentagon
insists that the investigation into Abu Ghraib has moved routinely
through the chain of command, not one senior official has been held
accountable.
Read the full article at:
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=382
Watch Sy Hersh’s recent lecture at
Berkeley
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/10/11_hersh.shtml
Making Torture Legal
The United States appears to be following a dangerous
double standard: although we deem ourselves uniquely a country under
law, we have cast it aside in the case of torture at Abu Ghraib. By rejecting the Geneva
Conventions, the United States demonstrates that we no longer base our
conduct on international obligations and rule of law, but rather on
policy preferences. The “removal
of prohibitions on torture cleared the way for the horrors that have
been revealed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo and make a mockery
of the administration assertions that a few misguided enlisted
personnel perpetrated the vile abuse of prisoners.†Underlining American integrity, Lewis calls
for an independent prosecutor to embark on a criminal investigation for
the abuses seeing this as the only “way for America to recover its good name - and its moral
sense of itself.â€
Read the commentary at:
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=386
The Gray Zone
“The roots of the Abu Ghraib
prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army
reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had
been focused on the hunt of Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners
in Iraq.†Sy
Hersh goes deeper into the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib to trace
accountability up the chain of command. From
the reconstruction of Iraq to altering the prison system to focus on
interrogation, Hersh explains how a slew of different factors and
powerful actors created an atmosphere for abuse. Kenneth
Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, states,
“We’re giving the world a ready made excuse to ignore
the Geneva Conventions.
Rumsfeld has lowered the bar.â€
Read the full story at:
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=384
Abu Ghraib: The Hidden Story
Mark Danner examines how Abu Ghraib has
created two ‘master narratives’. The
first is that of President Bush who supports the “few bad
apples argument, long the classic defense of states accused of
torture.†The Abu Ghraib scandal
is an account of how American soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere perform acts with approval
of higher officials that is tantamount to torture.
The second narrative of Abu Ghraib is that of Arabs and
Muslims “who point to the scandal’s images as perfect
symbols of the subjugation and degradation that the American occupiers
have inflicted on Iraq and the rest of the Arab world.â€
Read the full story at:
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=388
Act Now to Stop Torture
Tell the candidates, the U.S. press, and the American public why we
cannot ignore what happened at Abu Ghraib. And
join EPIC, Amnesty International,
Oxfam America, Veterans for Common
Sense, and the National Council of Churches in
demanding that President Bush honor international law.
To take action, visit EPIC’s
ACTION CENTER at:
http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=230
To support this campaign, make a donation
today at:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1621