Monday, April 20, 2009

After the torture memos: next steps

I went to the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's website today to get their reaction to the release of the torture memos last week.

In response to these events, NRCAT has reiterated and strengthened its call for a Commission of Inquiry....“We must, as a nation, address the fact that high-ranking officials in our government authorized torture and that agents representing our country carried out acts of torture in our name,” [NRCAT president Linda] Gustitus said. "A Commission of Inquiry is critical to develop the complete picture of what the United States did, how many people were involved and affected, and how such a heinous policy was approved. Without that record, we have no guarantee we can prevent it from happening in the future."

Lots of information on what the Commission of Inquiry is and what it will do and how to endorse it is here.

I was disappointed to see that the Episcopal Church is not listed anywhere among the faith groups that have endorse the Commission of Inquiry. I plan to write a letter to my bishop and to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori asking them to do so. If you want to join me, here's the contact information:

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
815 Second Avenue
New York City, NY 10017
(212) 716-6273 • (800) 334-7626
pboffice@episcopalchurch.org

Taking a step at a time, I hope justice will be done.

Waterboarding someone 183 times in a month! It is beyond appalling.

P.S. I also just saw this article that claims "U.S. Provided Torture Training To Uganda." Goody. What an export.

2 comments:

Atrium said...

As a recovering Episcopalian, the Episcopal church has feet of clay in so many areas, and this is one of them. There is such a disconnect between walk and talk in a church that can only be described as one heck of a dysfunctional family. So none of this is suprising.

LKT said...

Hi! Just saw your comment.

Yeah, I have to admit I am still capable of being surprised by the disconnect. You're probably more realistic than I am, sad to say.