Take action: Tell Bush - Don't veto torture ban

On February 13, the U.S. Senate followed the lead of the U.S. House and gave final approval to a bill that limits interrogation techniques by U.S. agents (including the CIA) to the standards set out in the Army Field Manual.

Those standards (and international law) prohibit the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture.

But George W. Bush plans to veto the bill.

If he does veto the bill, Bush will be telling the world that it's U.S. policy to torture people. How repugnant is that!

Furthermore, by vetoing the bill, Bush is telling our enemies that it's OK to use torture, so of course our enemies will be even more inclined to torture any captured U.S. troops or other captured U.S. citizens. Way to go, George.

I don't know if we have enough votes in Congress to overturn the veto. But, in any case, I can't keep quiet about this. You shouldn't either.

So below is a call to action from the American Freedom Campaign. Click one of the links below to send an email to Bush expressing your disgust.

Believe it or not, sometime this week, President Bush is expected to authorize the CIA to torture and abuse detainees and prisoners. Seriously. Presented with a bill -- passed by Congress -- that would make it clear that the CIA cannot waterboard detainees, force prisoners to perform sexual acts, or employ many other objectionable interrogation "techniques", Bush has pledged to veto the legislation.

What are you going to do to express your outrage? We at the American Freedom Campaign Action Fund encourage you to take two steps. First, follow the link below to send an email to the president expressing your disgust.

[Click here to take action.]

Then, use our "tell a friend" option -- which will appear automatically after you send your email to Bush -- to encourage friends and family members to add their voices to yours.

On February 13, following the lead of the U.S. House, the Senate gave final approval to an intelligence authorization bill that included a provision forcing the CIA to follow the interrogation and detention standards set out in the Army field manual. The Army field manual is more restrictive than the law under which the CIA currently operates -- the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 -- which more generally prohibits "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment."

By vetoing this bill, Bush will be saying to the CIA that it is OK to beat, electrocute, and burn prisoners. It will be OK to hood prisoners and put duct tape across their eyes. And it will be OK to perform mock executions and subject detainees to hypothermia.

This is the message George W. Bush is about to send to the world. Once he does, it will underscore the growing misperception that we as a nation approve these techniques. Moreover, it will send the signal that we believe it is acceptable for these same techniques to be used against U.S. soldiers and citizens held by foreign intelligence agencies.

We must do everything we can to stop President Bush before he vetoes this bill. Please send an email to the White House today by clicking on this link:

[Click here to take action.]

Bush might not care what we think, but he needs to know that we're not going to sit back and quietly accept his nonsense. We need to raise hell.