Originally posted on Faithfully Liberal and Street Prophets.
With a proper name in place: NEVER: Religious Bloggers Against Torture
Its time to know exactly what we are fighting against. We have all seen the graphic pictures from Abu Gharib; torture that was supposedly conducted by a few bad apples. But the revelation that President Bush knew and approved of "enhanced torture techniques" and meeting to discuss them in the White House Situation Room means that we need to know what fellow human beings are enduring because of this administration.
The Associated Press reported earlier that senior Bush administration officials took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.
However, ABC News is now reporting that President Bush himself was aware of the discussions and approved the controversial interrogation tactics himself.
"Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people." Bush told ABC News. "And, yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
This man of a so-called "compassionate conservativism" political ideology approved of the disturbing use of waterboarding, which you can see simulated in the following video (warning: graphic and disturbing):
The video was created by Amnesty International and their new unsubscribe-me campaign to end torture.
Sometimes seeing the truth of our leaders' actions can be more than what we want to admit. But that is what we are fighting to put an end to this by asking prominent leaders to come out against. We have started to put pressure on former Governor Mike Huckabee with his new PAC and we will continue. Please visit his website (yes I am encouraging you to do so) and ask variants of the following questions:
1. Will you affirm the Christian faith and the American principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by signing the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture?
2. Will you require the candidates supported by your campaign to take a stand against torture?
Let's keep the pressure up. It matters!
