THE USE OF TORTURE GOES AGAINST EVERY
SINGLE THING THIS COUNTRY STANDS FOR
Sixty-two (62) retired military leaders wrote the following letter to members of the Republican Platform Committee
(read the RNC letter here) and members of the Democratic Platform Committee (read the DNC letter here).
"As retired military leaders of the U.S. Armed Forces, we committed our professional lives to defending the national security of the United States and to upholding the Constitution. We write to urge you to include in the 2016 Republican/Democratic Party platform a plank unequivocally rejecting the use of torture and other official cruelty in the treatment of prisoners.
This is not, and should not be, a partisan issue. Last year, Congress – with an overwhelming bi-partisan vote that included the support of the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate armed services, intelligence, homeland security, foreign affairs, and judiciary committees – passed an amendment solidifying the ban on torture by restricting all military and intelligence interrogators to the approaches outlined in the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations (FM 2-22.3). Waterboarding and other so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” are also prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and other sources of international law, and therefore are not lawful or appropriate to use in the fight against terrorism.
We have diverse political affiliations and opinions, but we are in firm and unanimous agreement that the United States is strongest when it remains faithful to its core values. We are asking the platform committees of both major parties to send a clear message that the next President of the United States will uphold our obligations under international and domestic law, and reaffirm the United States’ long-standing and proper role as a world leader on human rights."
If we believe ourselves to be truly exceptional – and hold ourselves as a model for the world to follow – we simply cannot tolerate any activity that erodes our national values. Torture is egregious and a brutal violation of human rights, even in time of war. Torture not only corrupts our military, but it also badly damages our global prestige and threatens our international power.
Over the past two decades, decisions made in the name of U.S. national security have proven to have hefty, long-term ramifications – legally, politically, and in our relationships with allies abroad. The inherent overreach of our leadership – combined with severe and unacceptable mistakes (i.e. torture, Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib) – has sowed distrust and division within our citizenship, called into question our national core values, and threatened our global image as a world leader. Quite simply, this episode in our history makes us look like total hypocrites.
As a global leader – actually, THE global leader – we have a tremendous responsibility and this country is 1000% up to the task. We are incredibly blessed to live in this truly exceptional, one-of-a-kind place. We are the country that welcomes the poor, the tired and the huddled masses. We are the country that celebrates life, liberty and justice for all. We are the country that invented the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. We are the United States of America.
...a truly breathtaking place to be. Our greatest responsibility as Americans is to preserve and protect the very reasons that America is so great, and to make sure America's light shines far beyond our shores. We have to be loyal to our allies. We have to protect democratic participation, international rule of law, and rules-based international order. We have to fight against human rights violations. We must work hard to improve the factors that enable violent extremism such as poverty, inequality and repression by creating economic advancements for those who do not have the opportunities we are blessed with.