Happy Monday and welcome to my on going letter writing campaign. This campaign is focused on getting full accountability, under the law, for the Bush Administrations state sponsored torture program. Here is how it works, every week I write a letter to one of the decision makers in this nation. I also carbon copy it to other major players. The whole point is to consistently urge the people with the power to do so to follow the laws of our nation and fully investigate the credible and evident conspiracy to commit torture as well as the actual commission of this crime. How you get involved is by either cutting and pasting the letter over your own signature or by using this letter as the jumping off point for your own. In either case the I provide the links where you can e-mail your letters.

This week we will be going back to writing Attorney General Eric Holder. The carbon copies will go to the President, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, Judiciary Chairs Leahy and Conyers and Rep. Nadler.

Below is the letter:

Dear Attorney General Holder,

I write you today to once again urge you to follow the very clear requirements of our laws and our treaty obligations. Specifically I urge you to fully investigate the apparent Bush Administration torture program. From the public statements of Bush Administration officials and the documents made public, there is an obvious prima facie case for conspiracy to commit torture and actual acts of torture.

This is not just my opinion, nor merely the opinion of many in the legal community; it is now the opinion of a Spanish Magistrate. Judge Baltasar Garzon has made it clear he will act under the Spanish legal system to use this same information to investigate six members of the Bush Administration, including former Attorney General Gonzales, Judge Bybee, Professor Yoo and former Vice Presidential Chief Of Staff David Addington.

Mr. Attorney General, I understand the difficult place the actions of the Bush Administration and US Law has put you. If you investigate the previous administration there will be charges of playing politics with the law from those on the Right who have a political interest in seeing the architects of the Bush Administration torture policy never be prosecuted. The fact that several of them were in high ranking positions within the Department of Justice does not make this any easier. On the other hand, my perception of you is a man who really believes in the rule of law. A man who understands that if we are not all equally accountable for our acts, regardless of political power or class, then the idea of the United States as a nation not of men but of laws is a sham. If it is to be more than a sham, you must investigate.

The desire to spare the nation the divisiveness of the investigations and prosecutions is understandable, if misguided from my point of view. However, it is no longer possible for you to spare us that disruption. One of our NATO allies is clearly going to go ahead in investigating and prosecuting the very people who will set off this division. The nation will take sides with those who fail to understand the law and are willing to do anything in the name of some elusive security supporting those investigated on one side and those who feel the rule of law is paramount on the other.

Mr. Attorney General, your foot dragging on this issue of law is a national shame. I do not question your motives, but it is time to put all other considerations aside and follow our laws. You, sir, are our chief law enforcement officer, for you to turn a blind eye or try to keep investigations of a war crime extremely limited in scope is inappropriate to say the least. What is the precedent you are setting by these actions? Is a nation where known acts of torture go uninvestigated and unprosecuted one you wish to leave your children? I think not.

There is a solution. I will not make light of it by calling it simple, nothing involving crimes of a Presidential Administration is simple, but it is clear. You must appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate all aspects of the Bush Administrations actions in their torture program. This must be a person of the stature and persistence to follow the investigation where it leads. All those who committed crimes of conspiracy to commit torture or torture must be held accountable for their war crimes.

This accountability will come from either the United States or from our allies. You can no longer control that. What you can control is whether there will be a further horrible blow dealt to the rule of law in this nation by our Justice Department ignoring crimes because they are going to be politically messy to prosecute.

Attorney General Holder, I urge you to make the right choice. It is not the easy choice. It is not the simple choice, but you and I know it is the correct one. It is to follow the law.

Regards,

CC
President Barack Obama
Speaker of the House Pelosi
Majority Leader Reid
Senate Judiciary Chair Leahy
House Judiciary Chair Conyers
Rep. Nadler – Judiciary Committee

There is the letter, below are the links:

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)

Now it is up to you fellow citizens. If you believe we should all be accountable to the rule of law, if you believe that war crimes should not go uninvestigated then you must act on those beliefs. This is one way you can take concrete action today. Please take the five minutes it will take to make your voice heard to the leaders who can make accountability happen.

The floor is yours.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"