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Urge House to Override Torture Ban Veto

On February 13, following the lead of the U.S. House, the Senate gave final approval to the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008," which included a provision forcing the CIA to follow the interrogation and detention standards set out in the Army Field Manual. The Army Field Manual is more restrictive than the law under which the CIA currently operates – the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 – which more generally prohibits “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” The manual expressly prohibits waterboarding detainees, forcing prisoners to perform sexual acts, and many other objectionable interrogation “techniques.”

On Saturday, March 8, President Bush vetoed the bill. He issued this veto despite the fact that many current and former military officials urged him to sign the bill. Even Gen. David Patraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, asserted that the techniques outlined in the Army Field Manual “work effectively and humanely in eliciting information from detainees.”

What kind of a nation have we become? Are we going to accept the inhumane actions of our commander in chief? The answer must be "No."

Please fill in the information below and click on "Send my message" to urge your U.S. representative to override Bush’s veto of the intelligence authorization bill.

May 20, 2013

Subject:

Dear Representative,

I understand from my friends at the American Freedom Campaign that you will soon be voting on whether to override President Bush’s veto of anti-torture legislation.  I urge you in the strongest terms possible to vote in favor of overriding the veto.

The intelligence authorization bill contains a provision forcing the CIA to adhere to the Army Field Manual with respect to interrogation techniques and the treatment of detainees.  We need this provision.

While the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 generally prohibits “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” of detainees, we as a nation must be as specific as possible in clarifying the behaviors that are banned by agents of our country.  Especially given the past actions of the Bush administration, we must make it clear that the CIA is prohibited from waterboarding detainees, hooding prisoners, and forcing anyone in their custody to strip naked and mimic sexual acts.

If you do not send a strong message to the rest of the world by prohibiting these and other techniques across all U.S. agencies and branches of the military, you will cause other nations to believe that it is within reason for them to use these same techniques on our soldiers and citizens.  Is this the example you want to set for the world?

For more than 200 years -- while by no means being a perfect nation -- America helped set the moral standard for the world with respect to the treatment of prisoners of war and military detainees.  Unfortunately, the Bush administration has taken many steps backward and has diminished our reputation internationally.

It is not too late to get back on the right track.  Please start this process by overriding President Bush’s veto of the intelligence authorization bill.

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