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On Wednesday, October 5, the Senate defied the White House and voted overwhelmingly to impose new restrictions on interrogating detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and te was 90-9 in favor of the amendments sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with 46 Republicans joining 43 Democrats and one independent in support of the new prohibitions against the use of torture.

Despite this near-unanimous bipartisan message against the use of torture, President Bush has threatened to veto the entire Defense Appropriations Bill if the McCain amendments are included. The defense bill, which previously passed the House of Representatives before the amendments were proposed, now goes to a conference committee of both houses to resolve the differences between the two bills.

There can be little doubt that the current U.S. torture practices utilized in Guantánamo, Iraq, and Afghanistan present us with one of the most serious moral crises of our times. At this critical time in the policymaking process, we must make our voices heard.

Take action now!

Raise your voice against U.S.-sponsored torture while Congress is considering the annual national defense program authorization. The lawmakers are in recess until October 17 and most House and Senate members will be in their home districts.

• Write a letter to the editor of your hometown newspaper expressing your support for the anti-torture provisions of the Defense Appropriations Bill. Read a sample letter and guidelines for placing it in your newspaper.

• Call and write your House and Senate members while they are in their home districts and make it clear them that you expect them to support the anti-torture amendments against an anticipated White House offensive to kill the proposals in the conference committee.

If your letter to the editor is published, please send us a copy or a link to the newspaper’s website if it is published online. We will use it in our Washington, D.C., advocacy efforts with your members of Congress. Send to:

UUSC
Attn. Dick Campbell
130 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
dcampbell@uusc.org

Visit our online Legislative Action Center to obtain contact information, including hometown phone numbers of your senators and representatives, and to send them an immediate message by e-mail or fax.

Talking points for phone calls and messages

• As a member of UUSC and voter in (name of your hometown and state), I vigorously protest U. S.-sponsored torture. Torture has been abhorrent to our national values and legal system since the framing of the Constitution.

• I urge you to support the anti-torture amendments to the 2006 National Defense Appropriations Bill proposed by Sen. John McCain of Arizona. One amendment prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of people under the custody or control of the U.S. government. The other amendment establishes uniform standards for the interrogation of Department of Defense detainees.

• Additionally, I strongly advocate that you withstand any pressure from the Bush administration to weaken these amendments or block them from becoming law.

• The torture or degrading treatment of any human being, even in times of war, is banned by our treaties as well as our domestic laws.

• Perhaps most importantly, such misconduct endangers our own troops and spreads hatred against U.S. citizens.

Background

The Defense Appropriations Bill sets policy and spending levels for all military activity.

The White House threatened to veto the ENTIRE defense bill if the McCain amendments were included. In a time of war, this is a high stakes maneuver. It is a measure of how afraid the Bush Administration is of allowing discussion or votes that challenge U.S.-sponsored torture activity.

• For a full report on the Senate vote and the upcoming battle between the White House and lawmakers, read a Washington Post article, “Senate, House to Clash Over Military Bill.”

• A recently released report by Human Rights Watch sheds new light on our country’s interrogation methods by citing interviews with three U.S. Army soldiers – two sergeants and one captain – that our troops subjected Iraqi detainees to severe beatings and other acts of torture, often under orders from their superior officers. For the full report, see "New Account of Torture by U.S. Troops."

Sen. McCain’s floor speech

The following is an excerpt from Sen. McCain’s Senate floor speech as when he offered the amendments.

"Mr. President, let me just close by noting that I hold no brief for the prisoners. I do hold a brief for the reputation of the United States of America. We are Americans, and we hold ourselves to humane standards of treatment of people no matter how evil or terrible they may be.

“To do otherwise, as I have noted, undermines our security, but it also undermines our greatness as a nation. We are not simply any other country. We stand for something more in the world – a moral mission, one of freedom and democracy and human rights at home and abroad. We are better than these terrorists, and we will we win. The enemy we fight has no respect for human life or human rights. They don’t deserve our sympathy.

“But this isn’t about who they are. This is about who we are. These are the values that distinguish us from our enemies."