Dear Attorney General Holder;
Sir, what level of evidence of conspiracy and criminality does it take for the Attorney General of the United States to act? I refer specifically to the Bush Administrations apparent State Sponsored Torture Program. The amount of evidence about this program, which is in the public record already, is more than enough to justify a Special Prosecutor, yet we are still going down the "a few bad apples" path.
I understand the political difficulties of a new administration having to investigate the one immediately before it. I understand the problems connected to the issue of torture, which has been spun to the public as somehow necessary to national security and only done to bad people who would do bad things. However, none of this relieves you or the entire Department of Justice from your obligations to uphold, enforce and follow the laws of our nation.
Beyond the rule of law issue, which should be paramount to you and every other officer of court, there is a bigger societal issue. There is no such thing as a little torture. Once the absolute prohibition on torture is broken, it spreads. The level of justification for these heinous acts falls and falls until it becomes not a choice of last and illegal resort, but the first tool of interrogation.
This can clearly be seen in the recently released FBI Inspector Generals report from 2004. In this report the FBI IG finds once it became clear within the intelligence community that the CIA had a license to torture, were recommending some of their prisoners be transferred to CIA interrogation for "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques". Further, when it became clear we were in the torture business and there would not be the swift legal action required, these field commanders stopped forwarding reports of overly harsh interrogation by their agents.
This is the problem with torture, Mr. Holder, once it starts to spread, it continues to do so until it is stopped. We have let this cancer eat away at the very fabric of our own law enforcement. When the FBI cannot be trusted to uphold the law in the face of legitimized torture, we are in grave danger.
Please do not kid yourself that President Obama's insistence on an end to torture is all that is required. The people who bent, who bowed to the idea that torture, is acceptable are still within the DoJ, they are still within the FBI and over time, some of them will rise to the highest levels of those organizations. They will still have the lesson that there is no accountability for one of the most horrible and heinous crimes man can commit on man. When this President is no longer in office, what will prevent them from advising another less principled one to again torture?
There is nothing short of full investigation, full disclosure and full prosecution of any and all crimes discovered to prevent this. You know this to be true AG Holder. This is the shield and sword of the law in its purest form. The deterrent of loss of status, of loss of liberty is all that will make it clear there is a line, which we do not cross, no matter what the circumstance. The position you hold is the one which has the final say, it is the final line of defense against letting torture become acceptable, and frankly sir, you are failing in your duties.
AG Holder, do the right thing, do the thing you know to be the right thing; appoint, without delay, a Special Prosecutor who will be empowered to investigate this conspiracy fully, whether that leads to the CIA, the Bush White House or even the DoJ. It is the only thing which can prevent a future and likely more wide spread use of torture by officials of the United States.
If you do not act now, you will not be able to avoid doing so in the future. The evidence of conspiracy to commit torture and torture will continue to come out. Eventually there will be too much evidence for anyone of any level of conscience to look away from. The last three Attorney Generals put politics over the Law. This is to their eternal shame and to the determent of our system of justice. AG Holder will you make it four in a row? Or will you act in the best traditions of American Law and investigate and prosecute crimes which are clear and open? The choice is yours.
Regards,
CC:
President Barack Obama
Speaker Pelosi
Majority Leader Reid
Judiciary Chair Conyers
Judiciary Chair Leahy
Rep. Jerry Nadler
DAG Ogden
AAG Perrelli
Okay so there is a bit of a fire-breathing letter, now for some links. First off if you would like to read the entire FBI IG report the ACLU has it here.
AG Holder, Deputy AG Ogden and Associate AG Perrelli can all be reached at AskDOJ@usdoj.gov. Be sure to put Attention then their name in the subject line.
The Dog has put the screws to the AG today, but now it your turn. This all means nothing if the Dog is the only one sending these letters. Please don't be distracted by other events, don't let cynicism and apathy prevent you from making a small stand for justice. Do it today, do it now.
The floor is yours.
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