NEVER: Speak Up and Stand Up

Originally posted on Faithfully Liberal.

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

A poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller

Recent news sources have detailed the White House discussions on torture in the so-called Situation Room in the basement of the White House. Participants included nearly all the top officials in the administration:

Discussions were so detailed, ABC's sources said, that some interrogation sessions were virtually choreographed by a White House advisory group. In addition to Cheney, the group included then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, then-secretary of state Colin Powell, then-CIA director George Tenet and then-attorney general John Ashcroft.

Furthermore:

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding....

People of faith, people with a moral conscience, all people must take a stand against this consolidation of power, this immoral decision making and desecration of the image of God in human life.

We have a name, we have a logo and we have a mission: to push and persuade our leaders to take a stand with us against the use of torture. The current administration is breaking international law and is acting immorally. We must take an absolute stand against it. Please consider joining us and speaking for those whose voice cannot be heard.