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Dear Senators,
As you prepare for the Judiciary Committee's hearings on the
nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the office of Attorney General of the
United States, we entreat you to reflect on the global impact of the
abusive practices we now know have been routine not only at the Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq but also in U.S.-run detention facilities around
the world.
As an organization that is called upon to defend writers and
journalists who are jailed or persecuted for their work, PEN American
Center has handled hundreds of cases where our colleagues have been
tortured, often until they confessed to crimes they did not commit. In
every case, we have challenged their convictions and appealed for their
release in part by referring to international laws prohibiting torture.
Until very recently, we were confident when we did so that our appeals
were echoed by the U.S. government and underscored by our country's
1994 ratification of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
In the past month, however, information released in a Freedom of
Information action has shredded the Administration's assertions that
the Abu Ghraib abuses were isolated incidents perpetrated by rogue
servicemen and women. We now know that Congressional investigations
into the Abu Ghraib abuses were shamefully inadequate, that torture has
occurred routinely at Guantánamo, in Afghanistan, and at secret U.S.
detention facilities in several countries, including the United States,
and that the abuses documented in the photographs of ordinary U.S.
soldiers are not at the center but rather the periphery of an
international scandal. While the Administration denies that the United
States is also delivering detainees for "torture by proxy," there are
growing indications that official U.S. conduct includes not only
torture in U.S.-controlled facilities but also the rendition of
detainees to countries where they are likely to face additional, even
more brutal interrogations.
As the co-convener of meetings that led to Justice and Defense
Department memos justifying some forms of torture and as the author of
the memo dismissing the "quaint" protections of the Geneva Convention,
Alberto Gonzales helped devise an extra-constitutional legal system in
which torture is both condoned and routine. In doing so, he and the
Administration he served have violated the UN Convention Against
Torture.
The Convention Against Torture, originally signed by Ronald Reagan
and supported by George H. W. Bush, reflects an American rejection of
torture that has not lessened in the wake of the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks. A July 2004 survey by the University of Maryland's
Program of International Policy Attitudes confirmed that two-thirds of
Americans believe that governments should never use physical torture;
81 percent oppose beatings, submersion, and electric shocks; 89 percent
reject sexual humiliation; three in four reject forcing detainees to be
naked in any circumstances. Seven in ten Americans agree with the
Supreme Court that detainees are entitled to an independent hearing to
challenge their detention. We ask that you treat these hearings not as
a pro forma review of a Cabinet appointment, but as an opportunity for
Senate to re-ratify the UN Convention Against Torture.
We ask you to renounce current U.S. practices and policies and
commit to enforcing the absolute letter and spirit of both U.S. and
international law. Failure to secure such guarantees will betray a core
value of the United States and the clear will of the American people.
Worse, it will strike a blow to the democratic aspirations of men and
women in countries around the world where justice is routinely
perverted by torture. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Salman Rushdie
President, PEN American Center |
