Early this month the Senate, by an overwhelming 90–9 margin, voted to
ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"
against anyone in United States government custody, and to limit the
U.S. military to interrogation techniques authorized in a new Army
field manual. Senator John McCain introduced the amendment to the $440
billion military spending bill, and 46 Republicans joined 43 Democrats
and one independent in supporting the measure, defying a summer-long
effort by the administration to kill the proposal.
Because the House passed the appropriations bill without a similar
amendment, a conference committee has been appointed to reconcile the
House and Senate versions. House leaders and members are reportedly
under pressure from the White House, which is threatening to veto the
military spending bill if the McCain amendment survives the conference
committee. Last week, PEN president Salman Rushdie sent a letter
to members of the Defense Appropriations conference committee urging
them to retain the torture ban in the final appropriations
bill.
Now the conferees need to hear from you!
Please write the members of the House-Senate Defense Appropriations
conference committee, particularly if your senator or representative is
among them, to urge them to retain Senator McCain’s amendment banning
torture in the $440 billion military appropriations bill.
Following is a sample
letter that you may use. Click here for a list of committee members and their
contact information.
Dear Senator/Representative ________,
I am writing to urge you, as a member of the Defense Appropriations
conference committee, to ensure that Senator McCain’s amendment
prohibiting the torture of prisoners in U.S. military custody remains
in the final military spending bill.
As you know, that amendment, which passed the Senate on a 90–9 vote,
reaffirms and restores clear bans on torture and other cruel, inhuman,
and degrading treatment enshrined in U.S. law and in treaties endorsed
by the United States, including the binding Convention Against Torture.
The fact that this amendment is even necessary—that the terms of those
commitments have been so badly blurred and violations of the letter and
spirit of those laws have occurred—is an ongoing scandal and a
disgrace. I appeal to you to use this opportunity to bring the
confusion and abuses to an end.
Failure to ensure that this prohibition is included in the final spending bill
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. I urge you to preserve the legislation intact.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address here]
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