"Everything we don't believe in"

[cos]

Yeah, two posts in one day. Congress is about to legalize torture.

The US Senate will vote today or tomorrow on, and probably pass, the Republicans' torture bill, which has already passed the House. Congress goes into recess after tomorrow, and Bush is eager to sign this bill quickly. The bill will:

• Give Bush the authority to decide what is and isn't torture (and we already know his opinion on that defines a lot of turture as "not")


• Deny noncitizens (including permanent residents w/green cards) the right to ever go to court, at all, if the military or the Bush administration labels them "enemy combatants"

Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich summed the bill up as "Everything we don't believe in" and a letter from over 600 law professors sent to Congress says,

"Taken together, the bill's provisions rewrite American law to evade the fundamental principles of separation of powers, due process, habeas corpus, fair trials, and the rule of law, principles that, together, prohibit state-sanctioned violence. If there is any fixed point in the historical understandings of constitutional freedom that help to define us as a people, it is that no one may be picked up and locked up by the American state in secret or at an unknown location, or without opportunity to petition an independent court for inspection of the lawfulness of the lockup and of the treatment handed out by the state to the person locked up, under legal standards from time to time defined by Congress. This core principle should apply with full force to all detentions by the American state, regardless of the citizenship of detainees."

[ Edit: Here's Senator Russ Feingold's address to the Senate. "The key problem is in the definition of 'cruel or inhuman' treatment. [...] The way the provision is drafted, it even seems designed to grant immunity to senior officials who authorized coercive interrogation techniques." ]

A lot of Democrats are going to vote against it, but some are not, and they're not holding together to try to block it. Even if they can't actually block it, if they hold together, they can make a point of it in the elections, and change the law if they win control of Congress. But just like Kerry couldn't effectively campaign against the Iraq war in 2004 because he'd voted for it, so Democrats who vote for this will have a hard time campaigning against torture.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) says that some Senate Democrats tell him, "We can't oppose this, look what happened to Max Cleland," and "We have to go along with it because we'll never be able to explain it back home."

Make sure they know otherwise.
Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121 - ask for your Senators (2 calls)
Harry Reid: 202-224-3542 - ask him to hold the Democrats together to oppose this
Patrick Leahy: 202-224-4242 - deserves a thank you call
[edit: Russ Feingold: 202-224-5323 - deserves a thank you call ]

Pass it on!

P.S. Read aroraborealis's post about Guatemala

Edit, Thursday evening: The bill passed, 65-34.

Democrats in favor (12) - Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich.), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.)
Republicans against (1) - Chafee (R.I.)
Independents against (1) - Jeffords
(all other Democrats voted Nay, all other Republicans voted Yea)

The way to salvage something out of this is if one of the Senators who voted for it loses to a challenger who campaigns loudly against torture. That could push next year's Congress to undo this. If you've got a challenger in your state who might do that, and your incumbent voted for it, call the challenger and ask them to make this an issue.

Comments

[feuervogel]

Unfortunately, both of my Senators are Bush-butt-kissers (Liddy "Empty Wig" Dole and Richard "Big Bu$ine$$" Burr.) I've written them about, for example, gay marriage, and got a nice form letter telling me, essentially, "that's nice; protecting family-as-dominant-man-plus-subservient-woman is my top priority."

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

may i repost in full?

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Am in the midst of calling them all now, will post link to this message soon. If it's okay, I could use some of your information in a post to my workplace's blog.

[seborn.livejournal.com]

For the record, the Senate bill number is S.3930. Although "Military Comissions Act of 2006" or "That habeas corpus and torture thing" will probably also work.

If you want to thank or chastise your representative, the House bill was HR 6166.

[mizarchivist]

I'm relieved that our Mass. Reps are already convinced. I called anyway. Nothing like feeling like what you're doing isn't good enough.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

America: it was nice while it lasted.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

I have the dishonor of living in New Jersey, from which 2 supposedly Democratic Senators voted Yea. Menendez has a long history of disgusting votes, such as the Flag-burning amendment, but this is more than I can take. I will probably vote for him, but I'm incapable of encouraging others to do so except in the context of a converstation wherein I argue that he's part of the problem, not the solution. I will not simply express support.

[wendolen.livejournal.com]

Is there anything I can do after the fact, given that (as I expected) I can trust Murray, Cantwell, and McDermott to vote no on these things?

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

I know a quick cure: waterboarding for everyone who voted for that bill.

And, of course, for the CMFIC who's gonna sign it.

If only I could, seriously, I would. With my own hands. Line 'em up and start with the bill's sponsors, and keep on going until everyone left in line caved. That's what this is all about, isn't it? Terror and coercion?

[ellipticcurve.livejournal.com]

Thank Ghod all three of mine voted against this travesty.