How to Close the Book on Torture, Guantanamo, and Bush: TAKE ACTION

Last Monday, a group pf poets, peace activists and myself presented poems by Guantanamo detainees. What next? Below is an update on recent developments as well as ways YOU can help close the book on torture.

INDICT BUSH says: Bush Six Likely to Be Indicted

Publicizing the indictment movement requires placing newspaper ads, organizing national call-in days to pressure Congressional representatives, intensive media work, teach-ins and educational forums. Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush.

“Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo,” according to Scott Horton, law professor and writer for Harper’s Magazine and The American Lawyer.

“We are expecting a decision this week,” the Spanish prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press on April 14.

In an extraordinary conclusion to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross that was just released, the Red Cross recommended that:

“the US authorities investigate all allegations of ill-treatment and take steps to punish the perpetrators, where appropriate, and to prevent such abuses from happening again.”

The Red Cross report outlines the capture and interrogation and torture of “high value” detainees at CIA “black sites.'” The report evidences criminal conduct carried out by the Bush Administration.

Coming from the Red Cross, this presents a major obstacle to those who would seek to block prosecution or suggest that the conduct carried out by Bush officials and the CIA could be considered lawful by any means.

This report presents direct evidence of the brutality and illegality of the Bush/Cheney Administration’s torture regime. The officials’ actions constitute violations of international law including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the United States ratified in 1992, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the United States ratified in 1994. Article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits torture of prisoners and Article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention similarly protects civilian detainees.

The Red Cross’ demand for prosecution echoes the call from Ramsey Clark and the IndictBushNow movement: “Indiscriminate killing of civilians, summary execution, arbitrary seizures of people and property, secret unlimited detention and torture have been authorized and widely practiced.”

We have extraordinary momentum on our side right now and we must seize the moment to make indictment and prosecution a reality. We will be taking out newspaper ads in Europe and in the United States. Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush.

You can also help spread the word by putting a IndictBushNow web button on your blog, website or social networking page, sign the petition and get three friends to do so.

Democrats.com writes to day:

On Thursday, President Obama stood up to intense pressure from rightwingers by releasing four of the infamous “torture memos.” This is an enormous victory for those of us who worked so hard to elect President Obama, while also working tirelessly to defend the Constitution against the crimes of Bush and Cheney.

Unfortunately, President Obama also said he would not prosecute CIA agents who engaged in torture, simply because George Bush’s lawyers told them it was “legal.” President Obama also said Attorney General Eric Holder would use taxpayer dollars to defend torturers against lawsuits by torture victims, and to pay all judgments if they lost.

Tell Congress: No Amnesty for Torturers
http://www.democrats.com/no-amnesty-for-torturers?cid=ZGVtczI0NjczNGRlbXM=

These decisions are intolerable and unacceptable. Torture is utterly immoral and un-American. It produced absolutely no useful intelligence. It recruited terrorists responsible for at least half the U.S. deaths in Iraq. And it endangered every U.S. soldier who may be captured in the future.

And torture is absolutely illegal. The U.S. ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which prohibits torture and requires prosecution of torturers. In 1947, the U.S. prosecuted a Japanese officer for waterboarding. No lawyer can “legalize” what is illegal.

Congress must take the following actions:

1. Demand the appointment of a Special Prosecutor by Attorney General Eric Holder for torture, warrantless wiretapping, and other heinous crimes of the Bush Administration. (Thanks to Rep. Jerrold Nadler for leading the way !)

2. Prohibit the use of any taxpayer dollars to defend government officials who committed such crimes against lawsuits, or to pay for judgments against them.

3. Impeach Judge Jay Bybee, the torture memo author who serves on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California.

4. Protect human rights by restoring Habeas Corpus and the Fourth Amendment (search and seizure), including repeal of the Orwellian-named Protect America Act, U.S.A. Patriot Act, the FISA Amendments, and Military Commissions Act.

5. End secret government by prohibiting use of “State Secrets,” “Sovereign Immunity” and “Signing Statements.”

Sign our Petition to Congress: No Amnesty for Torturers
http://www.democrats.com/no-amnesty-for-torturers?cid=ZGVtczI0NjczNGRlbXM=

Through your patience and persistence, we are moving ever closer towards the restoration of the Constitution and the Rule of Law in the nation we love.

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

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