bushproject.com
Society of American Law Teachers Urges Obama to Prosecute Bush Admininstration
FROM: Society of American Law Teachers SALT
Public Advocacy Center, Room 223
Touro Law Center
225 Eastview Drive, Central Islip NY 11722
631 650 2310
www.saltlaw.org
TO: President Barrack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
I am writing to you on behalf of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), an organization of progressive legal educators who have worked for more than 35 years to diversify the legal academy and the profession, advance social justice within the law school curriculum, and extend the power of law to under-served communities.
We applaud the decisions so early in your administration to suspend the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay Prison, to confine interrogation techniques to those outlined in the United States Army Field Manual, and to order Guantánamo Bay Prison closed within a year. These decisive actions are a first step towards reinvigorating America’s commitment to the rule of law, human rights, and international law, and returning America to its role as a beacon of democracy. We cannot rightfully be a world leader without respect for individual rights, accorded by the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and international treaties.
However, Mr. President, this is only a first step.
Throughout the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” SALT was critical of the concentration of power within the Executive Branch; abandonment of the use of federal agency protocols for analyzing, evaluating, and devising foreign, military, and intelligence policies; and abrogation of this country’s commitment to the rule of law and the consequential diminution of America’s moral authority as a world leader.
SALT opposed the nomination of both Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey for the posts of Attorney General, due in large part to their positions on both the consolidation of federal power in the executive branch and their willingness to authorize and continue widespread warrantless surveillance, torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of suspects in the “war on terror,” (much of which amounted to torture). Over the last several years, as evidence of how the Office of Legal Counsel and Office of the Vice President ignored protocols for decision-making and justified pervasive human rights violations was revealed, SALT issued statements requesting investigation and prosecution, if appropriate, of those government officials responsible for authorizing the torture of suspects in Guantánamo Bay Prison, Iraq, and in the various secret prisons around the world.
As law professors, we believe in the rule of law, and in the values underlying American democracy. We also believe that investigations without accountability, or with immunity from prosecution, will not remove the corruption caused by these abuses, which will continue to undermine the credibility of the United States and the safety of our military personnel, if left unexamined. The country and the world deserve a full investigation of the role of government officials, the processes, and underlying rationales used in the “war on terror.” We need full accountability for abuses. “Congressional hearings with immunity” and/or “a truth and reconciliation process” may serve important functions, but neither is sufficient to assure the people of the United States and the world that this country will recommit itself to respect for human rights and the rule of law, especially in times of uncertainty and danger, real or exaggerated. Criminal prosecutions of those who have violated the law must be pursued. We urge you to appoint an independent prosecutor to move forward in this investigation.
We thank you once again for beginning your administration with a clear message that America is changing course and returning to its ideals of human dignity. We applaud your dedication to the values you have so clearly expressed and wish you every success in pursuing them.
Sincerely yours,
Margaret Martin Barry
Co-President
Deborah Waire Post
Co-President
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(Source)
Benedict Arnold was more than likely rated as Summa Cum Load too. At least he knew he was a stinkin redcoat and went back to the U.K. before he was caught and hung. I can feel bad for any colored people that had the unfortunate experience of Katrina and the Bush regime. However the majority of black people wouldn’t agree with some idiot trying his best to ruin what they have accomplished in the last 50 years. Let alone put Obama in any kind of danger linking him to a racist sect. Obama has already separated his self from religion that has forgotten the meaning of humble. And he has forgiven the ignorant white people around the world for taking advantage of other people more ignorant than them. We might also remember Obama is as white as he is black and probably isn’t a descendant of slavery.
Lets not get stuck just in the torture idea, G.W.B. actually conned our government into believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He went to war and then admitted it was a mistake, mean while hundreds of thousands of people are dead, thousands of Americans soldiers and contractors are dead and or permanently wounded. The cost of this war will go on for the next hundred years. The Bush family, the Carlyle group, Haliburton and their cohorts are really the only beneficiaries. We never did find out who in the Bush 1 regime told Saddam that Kuwait had no strategic advantage to the U.S.. But we do know who was supplying Saddam weapons to gas his own people and the Iranians and then looking the other way until they knew Saddam was caught breaking the Geneva Convention rules. Our government has turned into a mafia of tyrants who would lie and cover for each other for their own personal gain. Certain Interest Associations or Groups are bilking the U.S. treasury for the interest of special interest, causing death, destruction and hate while destroying the world we live in.