[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Is Torture a Religious Issue? Act Now!

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>Is Torture a Religious Issue? Act Now!
>
>from Shalom Center
>http://capwiz.com/shalomctr/home/
>
>Dear friends,
>
>For the sake of God and human decency, PLEASE FORWARD
>AT LEAST THIS SECTION OF The Shalom Report TO YOUR
>FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CONGREGANTS, and share this with
>them at religious services this weekend and next, and
>on into January, until the Gonzales nomination comes to
>a vote.
>
>PLEASE BE SURE TO SEE OUR ACTION CLICK AT THE END OF
>THIS SECTION.
>
>We now know that the International Red Cross told the
>Bush Administration that torture was being used by the
>US military on prisoners at Guantanamo, and that the US
>government knew this when it tried to pooh-pooh the Abu
>Ghraib revelations as the result of a few bad apples.
>The use of torture was systemic, not merely accidental.
>
>It continues at various secret sites where the US has
>sent prisoners to be tortured by other governments -
>probably Jordan, Egypt, and others - that have even
>fewer constraints than the Bush Administration.
>
>Among the links in the "chain of command" that OK'd the
>use of torture was a crucial legal memo from White
>House counsel Alberto Gonzales to the President,
>telling him he had the authority to annul the Geneva
>Conventions (treaties that are the law of the land), to
>ignore domestic law against torture, and to OK its use.
>Mr. Bush has now rewarded Mr. Gonzales by naming him to
>become Attorney General, where he will represent the
>Department of Justice in measuring what "justice" is
>and what the President can legally do, and where he
>will command the behavior of thousands of Federal law-
>enforcement agents.
>
>His appointment can be rejected by the Senate. In fact,
>that power was assigned by the Constitution to the
>Senate precisely to check and balance the tendency of
>Presidents to puff up their own power by appointing
>officials who might then assist the President to break
>the law
>
>Our Founders knew perfectly well of British kings who
>had used torture. They intended to make that
>impossible.
>
>That's the story from the standpoint of law and the
>Constitution. From the standpoint of Judaism,
>Christianity, and Islam, all human beings are created
>in the Image of God.
>
>Torture shatters and defiles that Image. In every
>shriek of those in unbearable pain, in every crazed
>nightmare of those who are denied sleep for days and
>weeks at a time, in every muffled moan of those plunged
>under water for minutes at a time, trying not to
>breathe lest they drown, in every rape, in every
>emptying of bowels in pain and fear, God is broken. God
>is defiled. God is raped.
>
>The death penalty returns the soul to eternity or to
>oblivion, depending on one's thoughts about the meaning
>of death and life. God's Image finds rest, calm, peace.
>
>But torture keeps the soul deliberately in torment.
>Keeps God in torment.
>
>We urge you to call or write the two most senior
>members of the Senate Judiciary Committee - Senators
>Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Senator Patrick
>Leahy of Vermont. That committee will make the first
>decision about whether to confirm this Gonzales
>nomination.
>
>You can call them at:  Sen. Specter, 215/ 597-7200 or
>202/224-4254; Sen. Leahy, 202/224-4242 or 802/229-0569.
>
>You can write them by clicking here.
>
>  <http://capwiz.com/shalomctr/mail/oneclick_compose/?al ertid=6714081>
>
>For background information on the torture issue, see
>our Website at -
>
>www.shalomctr.org/index.cfm/action/contents/section/torture.html
>
>PLEASE FORWARD AT LEAST THIS SECTION OF The Shalom
>Report TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CONGREGANTS, and
>share this with them at religious services this weekend
>and next, and on into January, until the nomination
>comes to a vote.
>
>Please note - religious congregations and other tax-
>exempt organizations ARE legally permitted to raise
>these questions with Members of Congress.
>
>_______________________________________________________
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand