What action will we take?

We have known that since 9-11 the US has tortured detainees in our custody.  The photographs from Abu Ghraib were just the beginning of continuing revelations about what has been done to detainees by the US government.  Jane Mayer’s book, The Dark Side, methodically laid out the case for how our government systematically made the legal case for policies that sanctioned torture.  Not “harsh interrogation techniques”.  Torture.  Our country has tortured, violating international treaties, our own laws, and most of all, our deepest religious beliefs about the image of God in all people.

There has been extensive coverage this past week about Mark Danner’s article in the New York Review of Books, where he exposes information contained in a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites. This report gives details from interviews with detainees who had been held in secret prisons outside of the US by the CIA.  The ICRC report, which was not to have been made public, but made its way into the custody of Mark Danner, is most significant in the use of the word: torture.

“The allegations of ill-treatment of the detainees indicate that, in many cases, the ill-treatment to which they were subjected while held in the CIA program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture.”  

(You can read the entire article at: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22530 )

Progressive Christians Uniting (PCU) is a Participating Member of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and is represented on regular conference calls with the NRCAT staff by a PCU board member.  The work of NRCAT was central to the fact that President Obama signed a Presidential Executive Order: Ensuring Lawful Interrogations two days after taking office.  When Dr. George Hunsinger, founder of NRCAT, and other NRCAT staff met with the transition team five days before the inauguration, their request for this Presidential Executive Order was strengthened by the many thousands of signatures by people of faith and conscience throughout the country who signed the petition supporting the Executive Order on torture. 

The Presidential Executive Order is a major step forward.  More needs to be done to ensure that there is absolutely no torture, cruel or inhumane treatment of detainees in US custody, ever again.  The principles in the President Executive Order must be codified into law; all loopholes have to be closed; and there must be a thorough examination of this country’s policies and practices in relation to detainees since 9-11.  NRCAT’s agenda for the 2009 Congress continues the work toward an absolute and total ban of torture, cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees by any person in US custody. 

NRCAT’s newest campaign is a call for an independent commission to explore what happened since 9-11 to detainees in US custody.  This Call for a Mission of Inquiry is available on the NRACT website: www.nrcat.org

Linda Gustitus, president of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, issued the following statement in response to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) report:

“The release of the ICRC report on the treatment of US-held detainees in CIA secret prisons makes the need for a Commission of Inquiry into US detention and interrogation practices even more compelling.  The ICRC – an internationally respected organization on humane treatment – refers to US detainee practices as ‘torture’ and ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.’  Our country cannot turn a blind eye to these findings; we must determine and make public all facts with respect to this conduct, and we must hold the leaders who ordered these acts accountable.”

Here is what each of us can do to turn outrage into action:

1. 1.   Sign the petition for a Commission of Inquiry on-line at the NRCAT website:  www.nrcat.org
   

2.Sign a letter on the NRCAT website to your representative asking him/her to sign on as a co-sponsor to the John Conyer’s bill, HR 104, that would establish an independent commission with subpoena power to investigate what happened since 9/11 to detainees in our custody.  There are 28 co-sponsors, none from the Los Angeles area. (To see the full txt of this bill, go to http://thomas.loc.gov and enter the bill number.)

3.Gather signatures for the petition. Download the petition from the website and have this available at your congregation.  Petitions can be mailed to the address on the petition form.  These signatures, combined with many thousands from around the country, will provide a powerful voice to Congress, the Justice Department, and President Obama.

A new regional network, LARRCAT (Los Angeles Region Religious Campaign Against Torture) is being established to support the work of the national organization. 

The current contact person for LAARCAT is PCU Board Member Virginia Classick, who is also a member of the board of the NRCAT Action Fund.  Please contact Virginia at vclassick@pcu-la.org or 818-225-0410 for information about how you can become involved in LAARCAT network.