Dear Senator,
Our congregation of Spring Friends Meeting, part
of the
Religious Society of Friends, earnestly appeals to your sense of
humanity and
justice in taking the moral high ground with regard to torture and the
treatment of prisoners. In his
speech on 9/6/2006, President Bush said that he would ask Congress to
approve
broad new powers for his administration – powers which the Supreme
Court
has said are unconstitutional. We
as a congregation find these proposals abhorrent to the dignity and
sanctity of
human existence. We believe that
such proposed measures and past practices severely compromise the
integrity of
the detainer as much as the mistreat the detainees.
The President seeks your approval for the CIA to
continue
operating secret prisons outside of the United States and outside of
the
control of U.S. or international law.
His legislation will propose military tribunals with limited
safeguards
for fair trials. And he will seek
your approval to continue wholesale scanning of millions of emails and
telephone connections, instead of honing in on individuals suspected of
illegal
or dangerous communications.
The President urges you to rush to judgment on
these
important issues, and not to spend time in the democratic processes for
which
you were elected. We urge
you to reject the PresidentÕs time table and to consider these
important bills
very carefully. We also urge you
to ensure that:
In the interest of peace and justice, we urge you
to reject
the President's proposals. And
while we applaud the efforts by Senators McCain, Graham and Warner and
appreciate the concept of legislative compromise, we believe that
compromise on
these issues--when human rights are what are to be compromised--is
unacceptable. We appeal to you to
apply the Golden Rule to this matter, as should be applied to all
situations,
as more just and effective measures for long term peace and security.
Sincerely,
Ron Osborne
Clerk of Ministry and Counsel
Spring Friends Meeting