I write an e-letter

I had to use the web-form on the congressional web sites to send this to the following congresscritters: Allen, Warner, Clinton, Reid, Hagel, Kerry, Obama, Cantor. I was able to e-mail it to Feingold. Here's the letter:

I am writing to urge you to vote against the interrogation/military tribunal/detainee bill. This is one of the most horrible pieces of legislation ever to be considered by the US Congress. It legalizes torture, it violates the Constitution, and it erodes America’s moral authority in the world.

The bill legalizes torture. We’ve all seen the photos from the prisons in Iraq. We’ve read the reports about illegal rendition and “aggressive interrogation” tactics used by the Bush Administration on terror suspects. We’ve seen the false imprisonment of individuals who had nothing to do with terrorism. If any of these things happened to a US citizen or US soldier, we would certainly accuse their captors of torture and violating human dignity. We would demand justice.

Committing these acts in the name of protecting the American people does not make it any less a violation of fundamental human rights. Waterboarding a suspected “evil-doer” is still torture. Detaining people indefinitely with no access to legal relief is still a violation of human rights. Even if torturing someone resulted in information that saved millions of lives, it does not legally excuse the torture or make torture morally right. A nation of laws upholds the law. Those responsible for torture, no matter how justified any of us believe it to be, must be held accountable under the law.

But let’s be honest. We all know that torture…excuse me, “aggressive interrogation”…does not work except in very rare and very critical situations. This administration has used these tactics far too often and far too freely for even the “a single piece of information might save millions” argument to apply. That dog won’t hunt.

Governments that engage in torture must be held accountable. Presidents that order that torture be carried out must be held accountable. By passing this bill, the US Congress not only will refuse to hold this Administration accountable, it will throw its lot in with this President, thereby becoming an accomplice to his crimes. The only lawful, constitutional, and moral course is to vote down this bill.

This nation decided long ago that no individual was above the law. September 11th did not change that. If Congress passes this bill, then it attempts to place the President above the law. This bill will, in essence, give the President the power to do anything in the name of protecting the country from terror with no accountability for his actions. This is unconstitutional. The President does not have the authority to define what torture is and the Congress does not have the authority to empower him to define it. The Congress should either redefine torture specifically or scrap this bill entirely. I urge the latter.

I hear our political leaders say we are a nation of laws. How then, is torture lawful? I hear from some of our political leaders that we are a Christian nation. Then, is torture a Christian value? I hear from our political leaders that we are a nation of freedom and liberty. In what way does torture make us freer?

Think about your oath of office. How can you honestly tell your constituents you have fulfilled your oath if you have not aggressively worked to defeat this bill? The bill is a violation of the Constitution and it is a moral abomination. The only moral action here is to do everything in your power to stop this bill from passing.

Torture is wrong. I urge you to stop this bill.