Legislative Action Message: March 10, 2005

Stop Torture By Proxy

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Please urge your congressional representative to support the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act (HR 952), recently introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (MA-7). This legislation would establish the mechanism to prohibit U.S. operatives from engaging in the shameful practice called “extraordinary rendition.” If your member is already a cosponsor, please thank him or her and ask that he or she urge colleagues to cosponsor the bill.

Reliable reports tell us that U.S. personnel have been secretly seizing terrorism suspects and transporting them for interrogation to foreign countries known to engage in torture, with mere “assurances” that the suspect will not be tortured. This practice is called “extraordinary rendition” or “extra-judicial removal.” Plain speech would say that the CIA has been kidnaping individuals, removing them from one nation without a judge’s order or legal process, and delivering them to a foreign nation’s detention facilities. Documented cases of torture after “extraordinary rendition” prove how worthless the receiving countries’ “assurances” of humane treatment are.

Action

Please call, e-mail, or fax your congressional representative today. Urge her or him to cosponsor HR 952. If your member is already a cosponsor, please thank him or her and ask that he or she urge colleagues to cosponsor the bill. With the weight of enough cosponsors behind it, this bill could be attached to other legislation and receive a hearing and vote on the House floor. You can find cosponsorship information and sample letters on FCNL’s web site at http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=7187431&type=CO

Background

“Rendition” of individuals has been carried out periodically by the U.S. for many years under individual, case-by-case review and approval by interagency groups led by the White House. In the past, this practice was usually used to transport individuals from one country to another without judicial oversight to face criminal charges in the receiving country. “Extraordinary rendition” takes the process to another level. Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush authorized the CIA to carry out renditions without individual review for the purpose of detention and interrogation, and without any pretense of foreign charges having been filed. Countries currently known by the U.S. State Department to practice torture and to which the U.S. is known to have transported individuals include Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, and Uzbekistan.

“Extraordinary rendition” violates U.S. law and international treaties to which the U.S. is a party, including the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In addition to these violations under the rule of law, “extraordinary rendition” undermines the moral integrity of the United States and places U.S. military personnel and civilians abroad in grave danger of the same kind of treatment. Although apologists for the practice argue that receiving intelligence information and disrupting terrorist planning is necessary for national security, most experts agree that torture produces little if any useful intelligence information. In addition, information gleaned through illegal imprisonment and torture is inadmissible in subsequent criminal prosecution for terrorism-related charges, making prosecution of those suspects who actually would commit terrorist acts difficult or impossible.

Rep. Markey’s bill, the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act, HR 952, provides for:

• Annual reporting by the Secretary of State to Congress, listing countries where there are substantial grounds to believe that torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is commonly used during detention or interrogation;

• Implementation of agency regulations, required by the statute to be ordered and enforced by the heads of all intelligence agencies, prohibiting the transfer of individuals to countries on the list provided by the Secretary of State, except under lawful extradition procedures;

• In immigration removal proceedings, establishment of standards by which a country on the State Department list must assure U.S. officials that it will not torture or engage in cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment before individuals may be deported to that country.

View a copy of FCNL’s letter of concern about extraordinary rendition sent to members of Congress: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1250&issue_id=70;

Further information about extraordinary rendition:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1249&issue_id=70

Talking points to distribute:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1248&issue_id=70

Further information about torture:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=70

Contacting Legislators

Contact your members of Congress through FCNL's web site.

Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Sen. ________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Rep. ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515