|
The
August congressional recess
is an ideal opportunity to
contact your senators while
they are home from
Washington. Urge your
senators to support the
McCain amendment (#1557, as
modified) to the National
Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2006 (S.
1042).
Torture -
-
is
inhumane;
-
doesn’t reflect our
country’s moral values;
-
undermines human rights
standards worldwide;
-
creates legions of
enemies of the U.S.;
-
brings danger of
retaliation on U.S.
troops and travelers
abroad; and
-
does not work - it does
not produce reliable
intelligence
information.
Act now:
-
Write or call your
senators in their
district offices nearest
you. You can find your
senator’s district
contact information
here.
-
Tell them to send a
message loud and clear
to the U.S. military
that no intelligence
information is worth
spoiling our country’s
long-standing moral
position that we in the
U.S. do not condone
torture, ever. Urge them
to support Sen. McCain’s
amendment.
Below are some talking
points that you can use in
your message. You may also
want to identify yourself as
part of your community
(where you live, your
occupation) and include a
sentence about why you care
about this issue. The more
specific you can be, the
better.
-
I
am deeply appalled to
know that my government
condones and
participates in torture.
This must be stopped.
-
I
urge you to support Sen.
McCain’s amendment to
the National Defense
Authorization Act (FY
2006) requiring that
U.S. armed forces must
observe the humanitarian
standards in
international, national
and military law - the
Geneva Conventions, the
U.N. Convention Against
Torture, our own U.S.
Constitution, and our
military’s effective
rules governing military
interrogations.
-
Civilized cultures treat
all human beings with
dignity. The rule of law
must be recognized as
governing the behavior
of our troops and agents
overseas. Torture by
U.S. agents is morally
wrong. It puts our
soldiers overseas in
danger of retaliation.
It doesn’t yield
reliable intelligence
information because
those being tortured
will say anything, true
or not, to make the
torture stop.
Please, make it clear
that the U.S. does not
and will not condone the
use of torture.
Background
Sen. McCain’s amendment
#1557 provides a clear
directive to the military
that torture is an
unacceptable technique to
use for intelligence
gathering anytime, anywhere,
and under any circumstances.
Sen. McCain, himself
subjected to more than five
years of torture as a POW
during the Vietnam War,
introduced the “Uniform
Standards for the
Interrogation of Persons
Under the Detention of the
Department of Defense.” The
amendment provides that: (1)
all U.S. military
interrogations must be
governed by the Army Field
Manual on Intelligence
Interrogation; (2) no
interrogation technique may
be included in the manual
that would constitute
torture or cruel, inhumane,
or degrading treatment or
punishment prohibited by the
Constitution, laws, or
treaties of the U.S.; and
(3) all U.S. military
detainees must be registered
with the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
In addition, Sen. McCain
plans to introduce a second
amendment to the Defense
Department authorization
bill. Amendment #1556
(printed but not yet
introduced - wording under
scrutiny as of this
legislative action alert)
would prohibit cruel,
inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment of
persons under custody or
control of the U.S.
government. The amendment
uses the definitions of the
U.S. Constitution, the
Geneva Conventions, and the
UN Convention Against
Torture.
For more
information, see Sen.
McCain’s statement in
support of amendment #1557,
as well as other background
information about the use of
torture,
on
FCNL’s website here.
______________________________________________________________________________
|
