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Tell House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers to subpoena John Ashcroft and John Yoo so that they can explain their role in enabling torture

It is time to find out who we are as a nation.

It is time to determine if we are truly a nation of laws or if we have resigned ourselves to the fact that some men (and women) in control of our nation can act outside the law without consequence.

If the latter is true, we have turned our backs on the founders of our country and do not deserve the freedoms we have been granted as citizens of the United States.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former Justice Department official John Yoo must explain to the American people how it came to pass that the Department not only gave the green light to torture, but also prevented the FBI from taking action against the CIA when it was aware of torture taking place.

Please fill in the information below and click on "Send my message" to urge House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to subpoena Ashcroft and Yoo so that they will be forced to appear before the committee and explain their role in this travesty.

May 19, 2013

Subject:

Dear Chairman Conyers,

In testimony before your committee on April 23, FBI Director Robert Mueller offered some deeply disturbing testimony.  To summarize, he acknowledged that he was aware in 2002 that CIA agents were conducting interrogations in violation of what he understood the law to be.  In fact, he ordered his own agents not to participate for fear of exposing them to legal ramifications.

Despite the fact that Director Mueller was personally aware of this illegal conduct, he was unable to launch an investigation.  This is the reason he provided before the committee:

“There has to be a legal basis for us to investigate, and generally that legal basis is given to us by the Department of Justice. Any interpretation of law is given to us by the Department of Justice, generally the OLC.”

As you well know, the OLC – the Office of Legal Counsel within the Justice Department – had, at that time, “interpreted” the law to allow torture.  The now infamous “torture memo” by the OLC’s John Yoo laid out their “tortured” logic.

When we put all of this information together, we see how truly troubling it is:

In 2002, the head of the FBI believed the CIA was conducting illegal activity, based on his understanding of the law.  This illegal activity, as we have learned recently, was coordinated by a group of top officials in the White House, including Attorney General John Ashcroft.  At the same time, Ashcroft’s own Office of Legal Counsel produced an “opinion” – later repudiated – saying torture is legal.  This opinion prevented the FBI – another agency within the Department of Justice – from investigating the clearly illegal behavior.

When we talk about having a government of laws and not of men, this is exactly the kind of activity such a government is designed to prevent.

In order to ensure that no future administration ever repeats this behavior, we must explore fully the process that resulted in the Department of Justice blocking the FBI from investigating clear violations of the law.

As an American and a firm believer in the Constitution and its system of checks and balances, I urge you to subpoena John Ashcroft and John Yoo immediately and force them to explain to the American people how it came to pass that the Department not only gave the green light to torture, but also prevented the FBI from taking action against the CIA when it was aware of torture taking place.

Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

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