The following alert is circulated by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), of which Pax Christi USA is a member.
Last week, NRCAT wrote about an upcoming vote on amendment #1068, offered by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) to the National Defense Authorization Act, that would partially roll back President Obama’s executive order banning torture by undermining the list of permissible interrogation methods included in the U.S. Army Field Manual. It would create a list of secret interrogation techniques. If the government decided to include abusive methods or even torture among that list – it would be concealed from the public. This would be a huge setback for our work together.
A vote on this amendment could happen early this week. Please call your senators as soon as possible to tell them to vote “no” on it. You can reach your senators by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking to be connected with your senators (please call both of them). Here is a sample script you can use while on the phone with your senators:
“Hello. I’m a constituent from _________. I’m calling to ask the senator to oppose the Ayotte amendment, amendment #1068, to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Ayotte amendment would roll back the executive order banning torture by undermining the Army Field Manual standard for interrogations and creating a classified list of interrogation techniques outside of the Army Field Manual.”
Thank you for contacting your senators about this dangerous amendment. The model email that we asked you to send last week can be found here.
Thank you for your help.
And when the really big war arrives like a mid-west snow storm – expect the predestined enemies to remember the western mens ‘ methods of torture ! And to increase and expand these horrible ways of statecraft and warfare ! Making the beheading of shivering & wounded marines at Choisin Reservoir appear as childs’ play ! And for this bleak future – we americans may thank heartless & cruel cowards like Kelly Ayotte ! ….Paz Intercesor – these things shall come to pass – reason predicts !