Your government is openly torturing people… and justifying it.
Will the election of a new president stop this?
On April 9, 2008 ABC News reported that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, John shcroft, Colin Powell, and George Tenet met regularly in the White House to discuss and approve arious forms of torture-including waterboarding-for use on detainees. On April 11, President eorge W. Bush himself admitted approving these meetings, saying: "And yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
As of December 2007, according to Amnesty International, the U.S. was known to be holding 275 etainees in Guantanamo Bay, ("Gitmo") Cuba. All but a handful of these detainees have never been charged, and have never received a trial. The vast majority of these detainees were turned over to the U.S. by warlords; they were not captured on the battlefield. Even the U.S. military only haracterizes only 8% of these detainees as Al-Qaeda fighters.
BOTH THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS KNOW AND ADMIT THAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS TORTURING PEOPLE.
During the first Presidential debate on September 26, John McCain said: "We have to make sure we have people who are trained interrogators so that we don’t ever torture a prisoner again."
Will the Election of Another President Stop this?
In saying, "never again," McCain is acknowledging that your government has been torturing prisoners!
During that same debate, Barack Obama said: "I give Senator McCain great credit on the torture issue, for aving identified that as something that undermines our long-term security." Again, in saying that torture "undermines our long-term security," Obama is acknowledging that the U.S. has been torturing people!
An excerpt of the 2008 Democratic Party Platform reads, "We reject torture." A few sentences later, the platform states: We will not ship away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, or detain without trial r charge prisoners who can and should be brought to justice for their crimes, or maintain a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of law.We will respect the time-honored principles of habeas corpus, the seven-century-old right of individuals to challenge the terms of their own detention that was recently reaffirmed by our Supreme Court. We will close the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, the location of so many of the worst constitutional abuses in recent years."
This means: the Democratic Party acknowledges that the government has been and is currently torturing, rendering, and illegally detaining prisoners!
WHICH RAISES THE QUESTION"WHAT ACTIONS ARE THE CANDIDATES TAKING NOW TO STOP TORTURE?
Why aren’t Joe Biden, John McCain, and Barack Obama using their Senate positions now to introduce legislation unequivocally banning torture and demanding Guantanamo Bay be shut down immediately? When Bush signed McCain’s 2005 Anti-Torture Amendment he attached a signing statement declaring that he would ignore the Act he just signed. McCain said and did nothing about this.
John McCain vows to ensure that "we never torture another prisoner ever again." So why did he vote for the 2006 Military Commissions Act, the infamous law that not only reversed habeas corpus, but also allowed the President to define what does and does not consitute torture-thereby legalizing torture?
The platform of Barack Obama’s party says "We reject torture." Obama or Biden could have filibustered-i.e. prevented the passage of-the above-mentioned Military Commissions Act? Why didn’t they?
Why did neither candidate mention torture, Guantanamo, or habeas corpus at all during the second debate on Oct 7? And why did neither vice-presidential candidate-Joe Biden or Sarah Palin-mention torture, Guantanamo, or habeas corpus at all during their debate on Oct 2?
Most of all, since the Bush Regime and both candidates admit that your government is torturing people, why was not only McCain but Obama repeatedly and emphatically refused to call for the impeachment and investigation of the Bush Regime for war crimes?
WE WILL NOT LIVE IN A TORTURE STATE
If Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin really wanted to stop our government from torturing, they have had numerous opportunities to do so. Instead, despite acknowledging that our government is torturing, they have either advanced or been complicit in torture again and again.
The message is clear:
We must not rely on electoral politics to stop crimes against humanity. Only a mass independent political movement DEMANDING an end to these crimes can bring these crimes to a halt!
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