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More Than 250,000 People Demand AccountabilityThere’s an old saying that goes, “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Well, we on the field team at the ACLU think it needs to be changed to "LATE to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize!" Who goes to bed early when there’s work to be done?
You can rest assured we have been working hard to make certain that people at the highest reaches of our government hear our call that torture is wrong, and that we demand action to ensure our country never engages in these horrific tactics again. Due to the wonderful support of our members and activists, and the collaboration with members of the Stop Torture Now coalition, we gathered more than a quarter of a million signatures calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to examine torture and other government abuses. We delivered those petitions yesterday during a hearing on Capitol Hill that under normal circumstances, would have been a discussion of the budget of the Department of Justice. We pushed, prodded and pitched the media, contacted members of Congress and joined forces with other groups like MoveOn, Democrats.com, Faithful America, Firedoglake, the Center for Constitutional Rights and many others to ensure that when AG Holder was at this hearing, he was asked the tough questions about the recently released torture memos,and what he was going to do about this sad chapter in our country’s history. The first speaker in the hearing was Appropriations Committee Chair, Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.). During his opening remarks he discussed the memos and said they definitely described torture. We knew right then and there that all our hard work paid off. As the hearing continued, member after member sought the Attorney General’s view on this issue and asked to hear his thoughts on what actions to take. At one point, Holder said: “…it is my responsibility as the Attorney General to enforce the law. If I see wrongdoing, I will pursue it to the full extent of the law.”
That’s encouraging news — especially since AG Holder said unequivocally that waterboarding was torture during his confirmation hearing. But we all know the political realities of getting there. Which means, there is a lot of work to be done to make sure the wrongdoers are faced with the full accountability of what the law allows. You can be sure we will continue to keep you informed on the next steps of how we can continue to use your valuable help. If you’ve got a few minutes right now, please add your voice to the call for a special prosecutor at www.aclu.org/investigatetorture.
Tags: national security project
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11 Responses to "More Than 250,000 People Demand Accountability" |
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Apr 25th, 2009 at 1:31pm
It's good to see that simple decency and morality still has a place in society even if far too many still condone these crimes.
Apr 25th, 2009 at 9:11pm
10:06 p.m.
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
ACLU:
I am an attorney in Ohio & Kentucky practicing in the areas of criminal defense, human rights prosecutions, civil rights prosecutions, and civil litigation. During the Bush Administration, this office was appointed by a local federal court to represent a foreign national child in a multinational criminal ring, and I most recently represented a physician from Moscow State University in Russia for allegations of practicing medicine without a state license in the U.S. (physician was born in U.S. and he is a United States citizen).
I would be most interested in speaking with you about some of the torture related allegations that this office has personal knowledge as a result of representation of individuals charged with crimes during this office's 12 years of practice in state and federal tribunals.
Looking forward to your reply at your earliest convenience,
Kathleen S. Hardy
Attorney At Law
(859)802-1500
Licenses: Ohio & Kentucky
9891 Montgomery Road, #264
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242
*This message is strictly confidential and contains attorney client privileged information. Reaview and or dissemination of any nature is strictly prohibitted. Should this message reach a recipient other than the ACLU, please contact this office at the above contact information and destroy this message.
Apr 26th, 2009 at 10:35am
why are you not condeming Janet Nepolitano for profiling our troops and other groups in the US ita clear you dont like this country.You are verry slective on what you consider to be important.
Apr 26th, 2009 at 3:02pm
No other president has EVER done such an idiotic gesture to demand a witch hunt and kangaroo court be put together to punish another administration that made decisions at wartime. The American people WILL NOT allow for the prosecution of Bush and Cheney and any other patriot who obtained information from these terrorist thugs who killed our men and women on our our soil or their cohorts and when you are in wartime you get information any way you can as fast as you can and the American people are for that. These terrorists have no rights under our constitution and if they are "tortured" oh well...go for it, if it means OUR people are safe. You people and your agenda are so unpatriotic that it makes me ill. Just try to prosecute one of those brave people who kept us protected from another attack and the people will have your organization disbanded for being a turncoat organization.
Apr 26th, 2009 at 5:39pm
If these terrorist have information that would endanger the lives of americans, how would we get the information out of them? I say water-board away if it protects innocent lives! It's pretty sad that marxist organizations such as the ACLU would go out of their way to ensure that these individuals are set free to commit these crimes again, while millions of christians around the world are BRUTALLY tortured for their faith, but there is not a PEEP from the ACLU!
Apr 27th, 2009 at 7:06am
Considering the population of the United States that is not many signatures.
Apr 27th, 2009 at 12:43pm
Let's see if I got this right from some of your commenters.
1. It is OK to break the law and our moral values and torture a bunch of people to extract revenge for deeds done by people sharing the same religion (and, in some cases, the bad guys themselves.
2. As long it is arguable that what we do to other people, innocent and not, is not as bad as what they do to our people, innocent or not, we are justified.
3. Because non-experts think torture is the fastest way to get good information, we must listen to the non-experts and break our civil and moral codes to what we think, right or wrong, to remain safe.
4. Because we cannot see beyond today, we must ignore how the rest of the world, potential future terrorists included, act on our deeds.
countesa - I'm glad that you have become a spokesperson for all Americans. You have made one huge error in assuming that the people tortured were all terrorists, much less terrorists with actionable information that could be extracted through torture. You have made another in assuming that potentially saving an innocent life is worth what we have done to others, innocent or not.
Steve - the experts say over and over that torture does not work and that other methods are more effective. There is no call to release the people detained for years on suspicion of crimes, merely that they be charged and tried. The ACLU focuses on the United States and its Constitution. It has done a lot to prevent the state from stamping on the rights of Christians and people of other religions.
Apr 27th, 2009 at 6:15pm
I can tell by Contesas post there are still people refusing to face reality.
shame,shame
Apr 27th, 2009 at 10:12pm
Don't think all Americans agrees with the rantings of the ACLU. Believe me, we do not.
Apr 27th, 2009 at 10:16pm
Contesa, you are so right. If these bleeding hearts hate America and her policies so much, they are quite welcome to go bleed somewhere else.
May 1st, 2009 at 4:31am
Dear Anonymousm -
To answer your questions:
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
Quit defending these terrorists! They are human pieces of garbage that deserve everything they get. I couldn't care less about these cowards. When our brave men and women go to war they dress in a uniform. These slimeballs arm children with grenades! They are pieces of shit and should be taken out back and shot immediatley! They have no rights in this country and should be killed. I even think the execution should be broadcast on television. Let the terrorists see that. Let's see how quickly they return. Justice should be extreme and swift. No dilly dallying. You come to this country and do sick shit.....We kill you. End of story!
An Open Letter To A Terrorist:
You think that you can come to my country to kill innocent people? Well you're right! Because now we have laws protecting you thanks to your Muslim friend Obama and his entourage of idiots! We hope to see you soon! Perhaps on a plane with some type of explosive. Or on a subway with vial full of a deadly virus. Just rest assured that after you kill a bunch of innocent people we promise not to harm you in any way. As a matter of fact we will feed, clothe and house you comfortably for the remainder of your life, provide you with a Koran, and give you all the religious freedom that you deserve and all the taxpayers will pay for it with the help of course from the good ol' ACLU!
We look forward to seeing you soon! God speed my muslim friend,
Michelle and Barrack Obama