MoveOn.org E-mail: Retired Generals "Going Public Today" Calling For Torture Ban, Gitmo Shutdown

Via E-mail:

Dear MoveOn member,

It hasn't hit the news wires yet, but retired Generals Robert Gard and John Johns are going public today with something big. They're calling on Congress to ban the use of torture, restore the right to trial and shut down the disastrous prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

You can be sure the blowback from the right wing will be serious. But there's a growing chorus of judges, scholars, military experts, and regular folks who believe that President Bush's abuse of our Constitution is making us less secure. The generals join it just in time: There are new reports that even some Bush administration insiders are pushing to shut down Guantanamo.

This could be a tipping point in the fight to restore our liberties. Can you join Generals Gard and Johns TODAY—and call on Congress to stop torture, close Guantanamo, and bring back the right to trial? Clicking below will add your name to the petition. (You can read the full petition text in the box to the right.)

http://pol.moveon.org/endtorture/?r_by=10573-5228739-k6E3kN&rc=confemail

We'll deliver your comments directly to your senators and representative TOMORROW—along with thousands of other voices from the ACLU, True Majority and others as part of the biggest national day of action to restore law and justice in years.

Why now? Today, under the guise of the "war on terror," the White House is systematically dismantling the very core principles that have made America great. But even military leaders are speaking out against these policies because they're putting our troops at risk. As Jon Soltz, an Iraq veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org says:

"Ending torture and shutting down Guantanamo are critical to protecting our troops in the field and winning the hearts and minds of the people we need most. If our government condones torture and detainment without trial, then our enemies will take that as license to torture our troops. These acts tarnish our image as a fair and just nation around the world."

We were hopeful that the new Congress would act quickly to right the wrongs of the last six years. But they haven't done it yet.

A lot of Democrats in Congress don't understand that there are millions of us who take our Constitution very seriously. They think that only elites worry about the Constitution and they're worried about being attacked for being "weak on security."

But preserving these core principles is essential to our security—we can't lead on freedom abroad when we condone torture in our own backyard.

And this is far from a partisan issue. Conservatives have a stake in preserving the integrity of our democracy too. In fact, head of the American Conservative Union, David Keene and former Republican congressman Bob Barr have signed on to a pledge very similar to this.2

It's time to restate the simple, nonnegotiable truth about what it means to be an American. What it means be a democracy. The president operates under the law. We do not torture. We, like the founders of our country, believe that liberty is the foundation of our security, not a threat to our security.

Clicking this link will add your name to the petition:

http://pol.moveon.org/endtorture/?r_by=10573-5228739-k6E3kN&rc=confemail

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita, Wes, Laura, Eli and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, June 25th, 2007

Sources:

1. Guantanamo Splits Administration, Washington Post, June 22, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2673&id=10573-5228739-k6E3kN&t=6

2. The American Freedom Agenda
http://www.americanfreedomagenda.org/

I'm adding my name to the petition.

...and just move the detainees to darker, scattered hellholes making it even more difficult to keep track of what's happening to them.

Congress really ought to be doing everything it can to stop BushCo's use of TORTURE and correct its failure to adhere to the GENEVA CONVENTIONS and the RULE OF LAW.

It appears that your link is to your unique ID.

Petition: Restore the Rule of Law
http://pol.moveon.org/endtorture/?r_by=10571-2919065-9RHo6k&rc=comment_paste

:kick: & R'd!

and if we do torture and need to ban it, then why are they (Bush and Cheney) still in office?


what to do...what to do

Pretend and continue to prop up the Bush lie that we don't torture and that Abu Ghraib and "incidents" at GTMO were just a "few bad apples" OR

Hold Bush and Cheney accountable for the torture policies they both wanted and got

or maybe "reaffirm" that the US doesn't embrace torture and then go on to hold no one accountable






of course I signed it

and get lots of praise and adoration

and then move all those poor bastards to all their evil secret dungeons across the world where no one will EVER know what happened to them

This is just a PR campaign for Bushco

further towards demanding justice.

You don't respond to "un-American acts" by euphemizing them as "over-reaching," nor by pretending you can "overturn" them in face of veto power and "Rule By Signing Statement."

Moveon needs to rethink whether or not they "take our Constitution very seriously."

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