Happy Monday and welcome to my weekly letter writing campaign for torture accountability. The basic premise of this series is to write those who can move the issue of torture accountability forward every Monday. The purpose is to keep this issue alive as other major issues like Health Care Reform distract the majority of the public. Here is how it works; I write a letter which you can either cut and paste over your own signature or use as the basis for your own. I also provides the links where you can send the letter. All you have to do is take five minutes to make sure this issue is not swept under the rug because the Obama Administration and the Democratic Leaders in Congress think there is no one looking.

This week we will write to the Associate Attorney General of the United States, with carbon copies to the President, AG Holder, Deputy AG Ogden, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, Judiciary Chairs Leahy and Conyers and Rep. Jerry Nadler who is a senior member of the Judiciary Committee in the House.

This week’s letter:

Dear Associate Attorney General Perrelli;

Sir, I write you today to urge your action in regards to the apparent Bush Administration torture program. Merely from the currently known evidence there is more than enough to appoint a Special Prosecutor to fully investigate torture and conspiracy to commit torture. It is a travesty of justice that your Department has failed to do so up to this time, but it is not too late to remedy this.

As Associate Attorney General, you are one of the key advisors to the Attorney General in regards to policy. It is time for you to speak up. There may be a perception that no further evidence will come out about the illegal actions the previous administration took with their state sponsored torture program. AAG Perrelli, this is a fallacy. On Friday, the High Court in Britain ruled the evidence of US and British collusion in the rendition of Binyam Mohamed should be released. Mr. Mohamed was one of the men suing Jeppesen Dataplan for their role in providing the airplane used to illegally transport Mr. Mohamed to Morocco where he alleges, credibly, he was tortured.

This is the second time the British courts have ruled this evidence to be made public and even if the British Government appeals it seems likely that appeal will be overturned sooner or later. This is just one of a laundry list of evidence, which will eventually be made public. The more of this evidence which becomes known the weaker the current “bad apples” position of the DoJ becomes.

The time to stand for the rule of law is now, AAG Perrelli. You are a life long fighter for justice, to stand aside now because of political considerations would ruin that lifetime of achievement. If you and the other top appointees at the Department of Justice fail to investigate fully the apparent and known war crimes of the Bush Administration, it will be all you are remembered for. No amount of good works can wash away the stain of failing to fulfill your responsibilities under Federal and International law.

However, you do not have to risk this ignominy. You have the ear of the Attorney General and he is known to be disposed to investigate and punish those who conspired to commit torture and those who actively ordered and committed this more heinous of crimes. What he needs from you is support for doing the right thing. There can be no doubt there will be a clamor if the previous Administration is investigated and charged with war crimes. It will be a hard thing, but the hard thing is often the right thing when we are talking about the rule of law. If you stand behind him and remind him you are both officers of the Court, sworn to uphold all the laws of this nation, not just the convenient ones, it could make a difference.

Associate Attorney General Perrelli history is calling. Will you answer it or will you leave it for future generations to deal with, perhaps after we have once again tortured prisoners in the false belief that it will provide us with the means to keep ourselves safe?
Please do the right thing, urge full accountability to the law for all citizens, even those who served in high office in the previous administration.

Regards,

CC:
President Barack Obama
Attorney General Holder
Deputy Attorney General Ogden
Speaker Pelosi
Majority Leader Reid
Judiciary Chair Conyers
Judiciary Chair Leahy
Rep. Jerry Nadler

Now for the links:

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 White House, Attention President Obama
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Majority Leader Harry Reid
Rep John Conyers – Judiciary Committee Chair
Chairman Leahy
Representative Jerry Nadler
(to get past Rep. Nadler’s filter use Zip Code 11224-4561 and the address of 445 Neptune Ave, Brooklyn, NY)

It is all up to you Citizens. Will you act now, to keep this issue alive or it is just no worth your time?

The floor is yours.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“