This week, even as the ACLU filed an historic lawsuit on behalf of an innocent European kidnapped by the CIA and held in a secret detention center, the president and the secretary of state continued to deny these unlawful practices.
“We abide by the law of the United States. We do not torture,” said President Bush in a White House press conference on Tuesday. But the same morning, across town, the world heard a different story from Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen who was kidnapped during a vacation and transported, or “rendered,” to Afghanistan where he was drugged, beaten and held in secret for five months.
The practice of “extraordinary rendition” violates the Constitution and United States law. Its very purpose is to enable interrogations in places where, in the United States’ view, no laws apply. This week, the practice was also denied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who told reporters “the United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture.”
As outrage over the government's actions grows at home and abroad, you can do something to tell our leaders and the rest of the world that many, many Americans do not support these illegal and inhumane acts being committed in our name. Urge Congress to vote for the anti-torture amendment sponsored by Senator John McCain.
By telling your Member of Congress to support the McCain amendment, you can help our leaders bolster the prohibition on torture and stop the government from using these practices again.
Take action now!
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=3FlKL78vclNNYTf9vOsVBA..
Top U.S. officials know the story of our client Khaled El-Masri. In fact, they even knew about El-Masri’s rendition and wrongful detention at the time it occurred. But the CIA continued to hold him in the notorious prison known as “the Salt Pit,” long after they knew he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
But even now Vice President Dick Cheney is personally lobbying Congress to exempt the CIA from the McCain amendment, so that the agency can continue to kidnap, torture and abuse people in its secret prisons.
Go to
http://action.aclu.org/torture to take action right now and tell your Members of Congress to support the McCain anti-torture amendment without an exemption for the CIA.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=F_fR-T6nE4Q0OAP-4IhcGA..
Or, read more before taking action.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=RYqlxUIab9j9IuBeD6Y0ew..
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union
December 7, 2005
Email Congress, Then Learn More at ACLU.ORG
Americans cannot tolerate government kidnappings and secret detention networks that subject innocent people to torture and abuse.
You can learn more about El-Masri v. Tenet and read Khaled El-Masri's story in his own words.
Go to our information page on "extraordinary rendition" to see El-Masri's diagram of his cell in Afghanistan, video from this week's Washington D.C. press conference where El-Masri and ACLU leaders answered questions about the case, the full text of our court filing, El-Masri's own statement and additional resources from the ACLU and others about this unlawful practice.
The United States government has yet to acknowledge its abduction and mistreatment of El-Masri. No U.S. official has yet been held accountable for violating El-Masri's rights to due process and fair treatment.
Take action now! Then, learn more at:
http://www.aclu.org/rendition
