05609
Nov. 10, 2005

Religious and civil-rights coalition
asks Bush to condemn use of torture

by Adelle M. Banks
   
WASHINGTON — A broad coalition of religious, legal and human-rights organizations has urged President Bush to condemn acts of torture.
   
     “For more than a century, United States policy prohibited torture,” the coalition said in a Nov. 3 letter to the president. “The prohibition served us well, and must be restored in U.S. policy and practice. U.S. engagement and complicity in torture and inhumane treatment are grave legal and moral wrongs.”
   
     Representatives of organizations representing Muslims, Quakers, Catholics and Unitarian Universalists signed the letter. They were joined by such groups as the American Humanist Association, Amnesty International USA and the National Immigrant Solidarity Network.
   
     “The degrading practices that have been used in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, and the practice of rendering prisoners to countries known to use torture, are absolute wrongdoings in themselves,” they wrote. “In addition to inflicting pain, these acts have made both our country and the world less safe from terrorism.”
   
     They said recent U.S. policy has reduced the country’s standing among other nations.
   
     When asked on Nov. 7 about reports that Vice President Dick Cheney had asked that the CIA be made exempt from legislation banning torture, President Bush responded, “We do not torture.”
   
     White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said during a press briefing Tuesday that it is “flat-out false” to say that the administration is seeking such an exemption.
   
     “There are laws that are on the books that prohibit the use of torture,” McClellan said. “And we adhere to those laws.”
   
     John W. Whitehead, the president of the Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, VA, civil-liberties organization, said it is important for the United States to set an example.
   
     “The United States must take the lead in condemning the use of torture as a grave legal and moral wrong,” he said. “If we are to help make the world a safe place, we must begin by showing that we are committed to respecting the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings, whether they are U.S. citizens or prisoners of war.”
   
     The religious groups that signed the letter include the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Unitarian Universalist Association, American Muslim Voice, Friends Committee on National Legislation (the Quakers), and NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby.