Silence + Torture = Complicity

Wear the orange detainee jumpsuit to school, work, shopping or religious services on Sunday and Monday. [more] Pass out orange armbands: wear them to work, school, church on Dec 10 &11. Distribute copies of the World Can't Wait Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime together with the text of our anti-torture ad. Write about your experiences in the jumpsuit or just leafletting on these days and send it to your local newspaper, blog about it, and send it in to our website at, reports@worldcantwait.org. Dear Friends, December 10th is Human Rights Day Join me and others in taking action on Sunday, December 10th and Monday, December 11th to bring the U.S. sponsorship of torture into the public view and to demand that it be brought to a halt. "The United Nations has always condemned torture as one of the vilest acts a human being can perpetrate on another. Torture -- defined as the intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering to obtain information or a confession, punish, intimidate or coerce -- seeks to annihilate the victim's personality and denies the inherent dignity of the human being. "Torture is a crime under international law. According to all relevant instruments, it is absolutely prohibited and cannot be justified under any circumstances. This prohibition forms part of customary international law, which means that it is binding on every member of the international community, regardless of whether a State has ratified international treaties in which torture is expressly prohibited. The systematic or widespread practice of torture constitutes a crime against humanity." - from the OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS FACT SHEET "Let us be clear: torture can never be an instrument to fight terror, for torture is an instrument of terror. The prohibition on torture is well established under international law. It is also unambiguous and absolute. It is binding on all States in all territories under their jurisdiction or effective control. It applies in all circumstances, in times of war as in times of peace. Nor is torture permissible when it is called something else: cruel and inhuman treatment is unacceptable and illegal, irrespective of the name we give it." - from the office of the UN General Secretory "In December of 2001, The Bush Administration implemented the Special Access Program that authorized the secret seizure, detention, and interrogation of persons and subjected them to torture. The torture included but was not limited to water boarding, beatings, the administration of electric shock. Extreme temperatures, denial of pain medication for injuries, severe burning, deprivation of food and water and threats of death and sexual assault of family members. "In January of 2002 the Bush Administration declared that Geneva Conventions protection will not be honored for the 'War on Terror.' In August 2002, the administration attempted to re-define torture to escape liability and/or insure immunity for those who authorized or committed torture. "Secret detention itself is a form of torture for the person detained and for the families who were faced with a situation that amounted to that of enforced disappearance of an individual." - from the Verdict and Finding of Fact of the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration of the United States. In October of this year Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that made legal and sanctioned all of the above. It mandated everything that were in the photos of Abuse at Abu Gharib photos that millions found abhorrent and that shocked the conscience of the world. Yet millions of people have learned to live with the knowledge that this is going on by their government, in their name, and have not taken the responsibility as citizens and people residing in the United States to stop it. Putting a stop to torture was not an election issue this fall and no leading Democrat or Republican since has stated that this will be immediately overturned and basic laws and standards of human rights and decency adhered to. If War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity are not reason enough to impeach the Bush Administration what is? Your Government is openly torturing people, and justifying it. Your Government is the most powerful purveyor of torture in the world today. History is already littered with examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they every imagined. It is up to us -- in our millions and each one of us -- to take responsibility NOW to change the course of history. To bring TORTURE and the whole Bush program to a HALT. This Regime does not represent us and we -- through mass protest and society wide repudiation -- will drive it from office. On December 10th, bring the systematic and widespread practice of torture by the U.S. into the public view. Act up to bring this crime against humanity and the Bush Regime to a halt. Debra Sweet National Director World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime World Can't Wait info@worldcantwait.org 866-973-4463 305 W. Broadway #185 New York, NY 10013 Local chapters Donate now To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.worldcantwait.net/ and use the form in the top right of the page.