Happy Monday and welcome to my ongoing letter writing campaign. The purpose of this series is to try to keep the issue of accountability under the law for the Bush Administrations state sponsored torture program. Every week I write to decision makers on this issue reminding them of their responsibility under the law to investigate all credible allegations of torture and where evidence exists to prosecute the offenders. This is a community action, and your part in is to either cut and paste the letter over your own signature or to use it to write one of your own. I provide all the e-mail addresses or links to the decision makers; you just provide a little typing time and some electrons.

Yes, this is a Sisyphean task. The President has made it pretty clear he is afraid of the issue of torture investigations will derail his agenda both domestically and internationally. To this, I give a giant Bronx cheer. No level of good works can balance out a failure to fully investigate and prosecute a crime that is so dangerous to the very fabric of a democracy as torture. Even if this effort is ultimately fruitless, there is a need to keep the pressure on, to stay on record that not all of the American people are willing to sink into the new season of Ugly Betty.

So, with that renewed spirit of commitment to this cause, here is this weeks letter:

Dear Mr. President;

I write you, once again, to urge you to take the steps required to fully investigate the apparent and wide-ranging crime of torture during the Bush Administration. As you are in your ninth month of your presidency the time has come for you to look beyond the crises you inherited. Your administration has done very well in many areas in the first months of your term of office, but it is also failing in the critical area of rule of law.

Mr. President, I know you have the interest of the people of this nation in mind when you set your priorities. I understand the problems politically and legally with beginning a full and aggressive investigation, however, the damage that is being done to the idea of accountability to the law by failing to do so is catastrophic. Our system of law and justice only works if the powerful are just as accountable to the law the common people.

If we can not count on the legal consequences of their actions to be a break on the ambitions of elected officials then our system of government is completely broken. Being elected confers special privileges as well as great power, but like all aspects of our government it is this power is checked, ultimately by the legal codes.

We have seen the abuse of power which was the hall mark of the Bush administration. It was done with the assumption that there would be no consequences for those who played fast and lose with the laws of our nation. It was cynically calculated that no matter what party followed the Bush Administration into the White House they would be hamstrung by the need for national security from investigating and prosecution of clear crimes. You are playing into this hand. The problem, Mr. President, is there by letting this particular band of criminals avoid prosecution you are validating this as a template for abuse of power without consequences.

The actual conviction of those who were involved in torture and the conspiracy to commit torture is not nearly as important as it is to make a clear statement to those who will follow you in your office that if you commit crimes as part of the government you are no more exempt from the consequences than someone who holds up a convenience store. Make no mistake, Mr. President, those who hear the siren song of power for its own sake will learn this lesson and apply it in the future.

There is another reason for investigating. Our standing the in the world has depended, in part, on our insistence in following the rule of law. Historically we have not done as well with this as we would aspire to, but prior to this instance, we have never had a state sponsored torture program. Without the clear repudiation of the acts of the Bush administration through the use of the Courts, we allow others to say “Well the U.S. talks a good case, but even they don’t live up to it.” The idea the U.S. has any moral weight in saying other nations should not torture is a joke as long as those who conceived of, ordered and carried out torture in the name of National Security are investigated and tried.

There is no easy answer here, Mr. President. However, there is a clear, moral and correct thing to do, follow the rule of law. Mr. President, you are an attorney, you are an officer of the Court and you know the kinds of problems, which arise if there is not a uniform application of justice. All of the problems you are solving will mean very little in the long run if we do not preserve the basic idea of accountability under the law for all.

Mr. President, in the name of our nation, in the name of the rule of law, in the concurrence with the oath of office you took, I ask that you stop resisting A.G. Holders investigation of the apparent crimes of the Bush administration and publicly endorse the idea of full accountability under the law for all citizens, regardless of their political position.

Regards,

CC:
Speaker Pelosi
Majority Leader Reid
Judiciary Chair Leahy
Judiciary Chair Conyers
Representative Nadler
Attorney General Holder
Deputy Attorney General Ogden
Associate Attorney General Perrelli

There is the letter, now your 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)

Now it is up to you, citizen. Does accountability under the law matter to you? Then please take a minute to act. Is torture an anathema to you? Then please take a few minutes to act. Is the idea of two sets of justice, one for the powerful and one for everyone else a horror to you? Then please act.

In the end there will only be movement on this if we the people demand it.

The floor is yours.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"