Tell Congress to Take Torture off the Table

Congress needs to send a clear message to the Bush administration: cruel interrogation techniques – including mock execution, forced nakedness and induced hypothermia – are morally wrong and have to stop.

Important legislation that sets one humane standard for ALL government agencies has been passed by the House, but has stalled. Keep the pressure on! Tell Congress to swiftly bring U.S. interrogation policy into line with the laws and values of our country.

(Human Rights First)

I want a U.S. President who will not allow torture to happen again in America’s name. All U.S. personnel must uphold the absolute ban on torture and cruel treatment with no exceptions. I do not tolerate “outsourcing” torture or holding prisoners in secret.

Join other Americans for Human Rights and stand against torture.

We need a President who is truly devoted to this country, its longstanding laws, and its fundamental values.

We need a President who will:

• Stop shipping prisoners to countries known to torture
• Close Guantanamo
• Restore the right of habeas corpus
• Ensure that torture is never again a part of U.S. policy

I am even more troubled by what he represents in the context of the continuing militarization of our government and the erosion of our system of checks and balances.

It’s odd, but I find myself in the position of wanting to defend the CIA.

The CIA has been ignored and then blamed by this administration, threatened with further “outings” (and their consequences in the field – wonder what the death toll from Plame was?), disrupted further by Goss, restructured, and is now expected to follow “detention, torture, and death squard” Negroponte.

How about giving them a chance to do their jobs in service to this country? Don’t they deserve someone better than this? The American people desperately need field intelligence, cultural insight, and analysis that isn’t cherry-picked for the wish fulfillment of the corrupt.

When the Senators meet to decide on Hayden’s confirmation, they must hear the voices of their constituents. I have joined the Democrat’s petition, which would like to deliver the voices of at least 100,000 Americans who oppose this nomination.

Add your name now…

How would you feel if the religion expressed on the national stage were some equally skewed version of Islam, or Wicca, or … ( – insert your personal choice for “least appealing religious path” here – for me it’s Jehovah’s Witnesses), rather than this particular view of Christianity?

What if they found some “wedge issues” and became the majority in Congress?
What if they rallied their base to write laws, and control the media, and spy on you, and limit your choices and your freedoms?

Would you still think separation of church and state was a bad thing?

Don’t you understand even now that that your freedom of religion is dependent on the state and church being separate?

How can something so fundamental to your own success be so maligned?

Tyranny of religion was opposed by the colonies, and then by the country. A glance through any history book (or newspaper) will give ample evidence of some of the reasons why.

“We are especially gratified to be awarded this contract,” an executive vice president, Bruce Stanski, said in a statement, “because it builds on our extremely strong track record in the arena of emergency management support.”

It’s amazing someone can stand up and say something like that, given the historical facts. Sigh.

So, the question is, why do we need concentration camps in the US, and who’s really gonna sit in them??

Terrorists? Immigrants to be deported? Victims of natural (or unnatural) events? Poor people? Old people? Whoever doesn’t sign up for the drug benefit written by the insurance industry? (the last a lame attempt at humor, sorry)

American citizens culled for one of the rapidly-developing “new programs”?

What kind of programs require major expansion of detention centers, each capable of holding 5,000 people?

Let’s ask the Bush administration exactly what it means by the “rapid development of new programs,” which might require the construction of a new network of detention / labor / concentration camps across the United States!

“Almost certainly this is preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters,” says Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers, the U.S. military’s account of its activities in Vietnam. “They’ve already done this on a smaller scale, with the ’special registration’ detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo.”

Peter Dale Scott, author of Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina, suggests that it could be a preparation for conditions of martial law, and notes that a multimillion program for detention facilities “will greatly increase NORTHCOM’s ability to respond to any domestic disorders.”

…in April 2002, Defense Dept. officials implemented a plan for domestic U.S. military operations by creating a new U.S. Northern Command (CINC-NORTHCOM) for the continental United States. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called this “the most sweeping set of changes since the unified command system was set up in 1946.”

The NORTHCOM commander, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced, is responsible for “homeland defense and also serves as head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)…. He will command U.S. forces that operate within the United States in support of civil authorities. The command will provide civil support not only in response to attacks, but for natural disasters.”

John Brinkerhoff later commented on PBS that, “The United States itself is now for the first time since the War of 1812 a theater of war. That means that we should apply, in my view, the same kind of command structure in the United States that we apply in other theaters of war.”

…NORTHCOM conducted its highly classified Granite Shadow exercise in Washington. As William Arkin reported in the Washington Post, “Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military’s extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control.”

For an excellent, but chilling overview of some of the possibilities here (including labor camps, dissident and “Fifth Columnist” roundups, and so on), take a look at “Bush’s Mysterious ‘New Programs’” by Nat Parry, Consortium News, posted February 23, 2006. at AlterNet.

• Instilled by the Cadet Honor System with a fundamental, longstanding respect for truth, we graduates of the United States Military Academy believe that honor is a basic attribute of character. That we are no longer cadets is irrelevant. We stand appalled by the deceitful behavior of the government of the United States and, in particular, its widely known malefactors. Lying, cheating, stealing, delivering evasive statements and quibbling not only has demeaned these deceivers and the United States of America, but has placed vast numbers of innocent people in deadly peril. We will not serve the lies.

At the top of the excellent listing of laws and treaties violated by the Bush administration, they note that “members of the armed forces have a legal and moral obligation to resist illegal orders, according to their oath of induction.”

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809.ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the “lawful command of his superior officer,” 891.ART.91 (2), the “lawful order of a warrant officer”, 892.ART.92 (1) the “lawful general order”, 892.ART.92 (2) “lawful order”. In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.

They have issued a call to action:

West Point Graduates Against The War: Now Is The Time
by James Ryan; West Point Graduates Against the War;
May 12, 2006

Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
Julius Caesar

Why?

We members of West Point Graduates Against The War stand appalled at the deceitful behavior of the government of the United States and, in particular, its widely known malefactors. Their lying, cheating, stealing, and rendition of evasive statements not only has demeaned these deceivers and our country, but they have placed vast numbers of innocent people in deadly peril as a direct result of their deceptions. We will not serve these lies, that is, we will not work for, be a servant to, provide for, assist, or promote the interests of this dishonorable administration.
By remaining silent we tacitly serve; we are no longer silent.

The illegal assault and occupation in Iraq has killed tens of thousands of innocents, both American, Iraqi, and others, causing incalculable damage to Iraq and the Iraqi people, as well as the reputation and honor of the United States of America.

The behavior of this administration is particularly odious since it makes mockery of the code of conduct instilled in us at West Point. “A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.” This has provided us with a lifelong respect for the truth, and a sense of responsibility to do the right thing, even if that means admonishing our country’s leadership.

Our position may be counter to the opinion of many of our fellow graduates. Our views are most probably not the views of the official institution that is West Point. It does its work, we ours. Yet, we are undeniably full-blown products of that place, trademarked by the West Point way of
behavior. “Duty, Honor, Country,” the motto of the Academy, our watchwords, as well. And we express our views as an organization of graduates, as retired generals of similar pedigree express their own. The difference? There are more of us than there are generals.

What?

Admiral John Paul Jones, the father of the American navy, said it best. “I would lay down my life for America, but I cannot trifle with my honor.” This administration has done neither. Chicken hawks in wolves’ clothing, they have been derelict in duty, honor, and country.

Consider their sending under-equipped troops into battle under false pretenses, the widely-known ignoring of First Amendment protections of the Constitution, the “quaintness”
of the Geneva Convention, or Colin Powell’s ill-starred, mendacious UN presentation. Their lies and misleading statements, detailed in so many places, have become epic. They tried to make their case. They failed. Facts and time have proven these people untrustworty and incompetent. They lied, tens of thousands died, and that is a moral tragedy.

Shamelessly, the president of the United States mocks his own deceitful behavior at White House Correspondents’ Dinners. People have perished from his infamous words, and he and his ilk, and the ilk of journalists, all guffaw and wink and preen. Duty, Honor, Country? Be serious.

Who?

We are graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York who are against the war in Iraq, and any other future wars similarly premised. Our ranks include sons, daughters, and spouses of deceased graduates. All of us stand in common cause against the deceitful policies and lies of the Bush administration. We are heartened by supporters from all over the world, but particularly the American taxpayers who gave and maintain the life of the
institution that bore us into the adult world of service to our country. And, in that spirit, we now act.

We are not politicians, professional media pundits, retired generals, peace-at-any-price activists, conscientious objectors, Communists or traitors. We seek to overthrow nothing. Except the pattern of deceit by this administration that has so sorely damaged this country, its standing in the world, and the world itself.

We have no historic legacy of public life that we are out to maintain because we have had no public life. We are ordinary people, forged by one unforgettable unifying experience – West Point. We studied there, we trained there, we were inspired there. We are the voice of a growing band of men and women, graduates of West Point, not perfect people, but honorable. And we speak for the many who, because of their circumstance, are reluctant or unable to speak.

We call likeminded graduates of West Point to stand with us and speak out against the deceitful policies of this administration, and the resulting destruction of the honor of the United States, and the dissipation of its military.

Alarum and call to action

Say no to preventive war. Heed President Eisenhower’s words. “When people speak to you about a preventive war,” he said, “you tell them to go and fight it.”

Say no to torture. Demand that the United States government respect the conventions of war. We must lead by example, preserving some aspect of humanity in the carnage and devastation. Today, we gaze into the abyss of perpetual war. Be aware, as Nietzsche warned, “If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Say no to the trashing of the honor of our country. Stay the forked tongues of this deplorable administration.

This is not a partisan issue. Both sides of the legislative chambers have aided and abetted this corrupt administration. We exhort everyone to stand with us and to write to their political representatives. We will do the same. Tell them that you don’t appreciate their silence on these vital issues. Tell them to support and defend the Constitution as they have sworn to do. Demand honorable behavior from all public officials. Tell them how you feel about what THEY have allowed to happen to our country. And tell them that we, West Point Graduates Against The War, sent you. Tell them that we stand with you. It’s the truth!

“Now is the time!” Martin Luther King said long ago. Indeed, NOW is the time.

We live on the precipice of yet another “arranged” war. This time it’s Iran. As in Iraq, the demonization is well underway. The dogs of war are foaming and gnashing. Deja vu all over again, or, as we used to say at West Point, S.O.S, “Same Old Stuff,” or words to that effect.

And all this in the name of homeland security. Please be serious. As Dwight Eisenhower said, “If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They’ll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government.”

Today, we have clear intimations of just such a government. We think that Americans are not so easily cowed, and that the vast majority demands far more than a diet of false statements, and confinement in endless, immoral wars.

New voices can change the world. They always have. Stand with us!

James Ryan

Cofounder: West Point Graduates Against The War

Visit the blog.

Don’t need no ad machine
Telling me what I need
Don’t need no Madison Avenue War
Don’t need no more boxes I can see

Covered in flags but I can’t see them on TV

Don’t need no more lies
Don’t need no more lies
Don’t need no more lies

Click on the track title for the lyrics in ticker formet at the official website, or here for the whole list.

• 1) After The Garden
• 2) Living With War
• 3) The Restless Consumer
• 4) Shock And Awe
• 5) Families
• 6) Flags of Freedom
• 7) Let’s Impeach The President
• Lookin’ For A Leader
• 9) Roger And Out
• 10) America The Beautiful

“Let’s Impeach The President”

Let’s impeach the President for lying
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

Who’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let’s impeach the President for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

(Bush clips)
Flip – Flop
Flip – Flop
Flip – Flop
Flip – Flop

Let’s impeach the president for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lots of people looking at big trouble
But of course our president is clean.

Thank God

I’ve added him to the “Salute” category of links. Thanks Neil.