Republicans Giving Green Light for Torture
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Re “U.S. Allies Criticized for Rights Abuses,” March 1: As you report, the State Department’s criticism of torture and prisoner abuse in Egypt and Syria has raised concern among lawmakers over the U.S. practice of shipping prisoners to those countries for interrogation. Though it’s true that a bill has been introduced to ban this practice, it’s also unfortunately true that the House GOP leadership, under Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, has already announced the intention to block any such legislation.
I fear this makes us not only complicit in the violence perpetrated on the prisoners we ourselves turn over, but in the consequences of the message: that there’s a green light for torture wherever a regime can claim a matter of national security.
Michael Nutkiewicz
Executive Director
Program for Torture Victims
Los Angeles
The nonprofit Program for Torture Victims works to alleviate the suffering and health consequences of politically motivated torture.
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