|
|
A Letter to My Congressman
Dear Congressman Moran:Why are you not co-sponsoring H.R.4674, which seeks "to prohibit the return of persons by the United States, for purposes of detention, interrogation, or trial, to countries engaging in torture or other inhuman treatment of personsâ?
Are you really in favor of the executive branch of the government being able, without any judicial review or the ability to show probable cause for arrest, to hand people like Maher Arar over to places like Syria to be tortured?
As reported in the Sunday, January 4, 2004 San Francisco Chronicle, the government handed this Canadian citizen over to Syria to be tortured for ten months, on no evidence other than the fact that some distant relations of his were suspected terrorists. Apparently this is called "extraordinary rendition", an intelligence community euphemism for "outsourcing torture".
America must stand for liberty. Torture, even at arm's length, is absolutely unacceptable. I am frightened and disgusted by the erosion of civil rights we are living through. Please support HR 4674.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Rosenbaum
David Moles has the list of current consponsors of HR 4674.
Posted by benrosen at October 1, 2004 11:41 AM | Up to blogI just sent a letter to my congressman. Thanks for the links, Ben.
Posted by: Jason Erik Lundberg at October 2, 2004 04:31 PMYou have to understand that since Senator Kerry has repeatedly voted AGAINST increasing the budget of our intelligence agencies, they don't have the money to properly and humanely interrogate any longer.
Plus, the CIA needs the "outsourcing" tax credit :-P
Posted by: jason mceachen at October 25, 2004 02:29 PMJason, you beeheaded skeezicks! Good to see you still wreaking havoc. Don't worry, not *all* torture will be outsourced, there will still be a niche market for your peculiar skills...
Moran, by the way, sent a letter back, saying that he voted against the recent HR 10 bill that "would allow U.S. authorities to deport certain foreigners to countries where they are likely to be tortured or abused", but not saying anything about HR 4674.
"Tortured or abused," sure, what about countries where I'm likely to abuse myself? I hate to think that I'd be denied access to nations that have topless beaches...
Posted by: jason mceachen at February 22, 2005 01:29 AMWait a minute, Jason... you're saying there are countries with topless beaches that are still letting you in?
Posted by: Benjamin Rosenbaum at February 22, 2005 09:36 AMlots of them! Just not countries that have topless beaches in sight of sheep grazing country. There was a little confusion on one occasion, and coupled with the language barrier... well suffice it to say I'm not getting another New Zealand visa stamp anytime soon...
Posted by: jason mceachen at March 4, 2005 04:25 AM