November 11, 2005
I never thought the day would come when, as a candidate for U.S. Congress, I would feel compelled to state my opposition to torture. I never thought, as a citizen of the United States, there would come a day when the Vice President of the United States, acting on behalf of the President and our country, would openly advocate that Congress legally authorize human rights abuses by Americans.
Vice President Dick Cheney is actively opposing an amendment in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Senator John McCain and passed this month by a vote of 90-9 in the Senate, that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" treatment of prisoners. President George Bush has also threatened to veto the bill over this amendment.
The United States government should not, under any circumstances, torture individuals in its custody. There should be no exceptions to that rule, including the one sought by Vice President Cheney to exempt the CIA from torture restrictions.
The House of Representatives should pass Senator McCain,s amendment. It is unconscionable that there is even a debate about permitting United States authorities to torture individuals in American custody. It is both morally reprehensible and practically dangerous. No country should torture people in its custody. Moreover, by reserving authority to, in effect, inflict "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" treatment of people in our custody, as Cheney and Bush advocate, the prospects are heightened that our own soldiers will suffer the same fate when held as prisoners by our enemies.
Vice President Cheney,s position is not an abstract request. The CIA is now holding an unknown number of prisoners in secret detention centers in Eastern Europe. This is in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. The CIA has refused to register those detainees with the International Red Cross or allow visits by its inspectors. This is a reminder of the repugnant policies that were practiced in Chile and Argentina when citizens "disappeared."
The Cheney position is all the more shocking when our military has struggled to recover from the graphic abuse photos and subsequent conviction of military personnel for their abuse of prisoners.
As the Washington Post (10.26.05) pointed out in an editorial:
"It,s not surprising that Mr. Cheney would be at the forefront of an attempt to ratify and legalize this shameful record. The Vice President has been a prime mover behind the Bush Administration,s decision to violate the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture and to break with decades of past practice by the U.S. military."
Cheney,s policy follows the Bush Administration initiative immediately after the September 11 attacks when Administration staff prepared memos that characterized Geneva Convention protections as "quaint" and "outdated."
As a candidate for Congress and as a member of Congress, I will:
I believe the position I am taking is shocking in that it needs to be taken at all by a candidate for Congress. Some issues simply transcend partisan politics.
It is astonishing that the President and Vice President of the United States are taking such a radical position on torture - a position that is repugnant to the ideals of democracy and representative government.
There can be no question that all elected officials and all candidates for office support McCain,s common sense amendment and stand against the misguided notion that the rules of basic decency don,t apply to our great nation.