Letter to your representative

I got this from http://www.aclu.org/Focus.cfm?ContentStyle=2&num=5

Feel free to use it as a stepping off point for your own letter or email.

The Honorable Ron Wyden
United States Senate
516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 3703

Re: Torture is not acceptable

Senator Wyden:

As your constituent, I urge you to demand access to the relevant memorandum and other documents relating to the Bush Administration’s interrogation and torture policies. The American people deserve to know the truth about these policies, especially in light of the nomination of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

I believe that we MUST stop committing war crimes if we are to regain any semblance of international credibility. I want to know what types of torture we have used and I want you as my representative to do whatever is in your power to stop any further torture from taking place.

Documents that already have been released show that Gonzales was a central player in radically changing U.S. policy on the use of torture. Gonzales wrote a key legal opinion arguing that the Geneva Conventions were “quaint” and “obsolete” and did not apply to many of the prisoners caught by the United States. And he ordered and reviewed memos that argue that brutal and inhumane practices are not “torture.”

There are no excuses for the Bush Administration to withhold torture related documents. President Bush has nominated one of the architects of the interrogation and torture policies to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. The Senate should know the truth about his role in setting policies and whether those policies resulted in one of the most lawless governmental acts in recent history. Senators have the same national security clearance as Gonzales and deserve to see the same documents that he has written or seen and the President should waive his trumped up claims of executive privilege over documents that relate to wartime atrocities.

Now is the time to release all the torture related documents. Despite requests in congressional hearings and a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the Bush Administration is refusing to release dozens of documents that reportedly show how policy changes that Gonzales recommended be made at the White House and at the top levels of government trickled down to decisions made by the military and the CIA holding prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bush Administration must stop hiding the truth from the American people. The Senate and the American public deserve to know the truth before considering Gonzales as Attorney General.

Once again, I urge you to demand access to the relevant memorandum and other documents relating to this Administration’s interrogation and torture policies.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter.

Sincerely,

Marine describes own atrocities to make case for asylum seeker

Dec 9 - At a hearing today for a US soldier seeking asylum in Canada, one witness described how he and his fellow Marines routinely shot unarmed civilians at checkpoints in Iraq.

"We deliberately gunned down people who were civilians," said Marine staff sergeant Jimmy Massey, who was honorably discharged after serving twelve years in the military, three months of which were in Iraq. "I became so concerned because I felt that Marines were honestly enjoying it. I saw plenty of Marines become psychopaths -- they enjoyed the killing."

Massey, addressing the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board, told of one 48-hour period when he and his fellow Marines killed over 30 civilians while they were stationed at a checkpoint in southern Baghdad. Massey said those civilians included a group of unarmed demonstrators and a driver of a car who had raised his hands above his head in surrender.

See the rest of this article at:
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1289