WASHINGTON (ABP) — Thousand of Christians and other activists withstood Washington's oppressive summer heat June 26 to rally against torture, indefinite imprisonment and other tactics the United States has used in the war against terrorism.
“Jesus not only commanded but also modeled a way of life that refused to repay evil with evil,” Charles Gutenson, an evangelical leader and professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, said at a pre-rally press conference featuring religious leaders. “When his enemies came for him, he embodied the call to love our enemies. How then can we, who seek to imitate Jesus, ever see torture as a legitimate tool wielded to serve our own purposes?”
Prominent members of Congress — including presidential candidates — and civil-rights activists spoke out in favor of legislation to end the tactics. President Bush's administration has claimed that some of the tactics are necessary in a war with a non-governmental enemy and with non-traditional rules of engagement.
Some conservative evangelicals have backed Bush's tactics, saying they are sometimes necessary to prevent even more heinous evils associated with terrorism.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights organized the Capitol Hill rally.
Amnesty International members in orange jumpsuits stood near the front of the stage, duct tape sealing their mouths. Amnesty executives Jomana Musa and Mona Cadena said they thought of wearing jumpsuits in 2004 as a way to raise attention about the plight of detainees at the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba. Suspected terrorists are being held there indefinitely by the U.S. government, with little access to legal counsel.
“The tape is to show that the [detainees] have now been silenced,” Musa said. “They can't even go to a court and ask the simple question of, 'Why am I being detained?'”
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) issued a challenge to President Bush about Guantanamo similar to the challenge Ronald Reagan issued in his famous speech to then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, standing in front of the Berlin Wall.
“Mr. President,” Harkin said. “Tear down that prison!”
Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, recently introduced the “Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007,” which calls for changes to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and restoration of U.S. court rights for detainees. At the rally, Dodd addressed the bill, as well as the “Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007.”
“Over these coming weeks we're going to ask our colleagues to vote and support legislation to restore habeas corpus, to get rid of torture as a means of solicitation and to get back to endorsing the Geneva Convention,” he said. Habeas corpus is the legal term for the right to be brought before a court of law to determine the reason for detainment.
Dodd said the nation shouldn't be divided by “political ideology” on these issues because the dangers of straying from habeas corpus should be apparent to every American.
David Keen, chairman of the American Conservative Union, spoke at the rally. He said his presence proves opposing illegal imprisonment knows no political boundaries.
“I'm here today because as a conservative I believe that America is the greatest and freest nation on the face of the earth,” Keen said. “And I want to do what I can to make sure that my children and their children will be able to say the same.”
Keene said he believed those at the rally were there to remind the administration of “what it is they are fighting to defend.”
“I believe we can defeat our enemies without compromising the values that have made this nation great,” Keen said. “No right is more essential to individual liberty than the right to be free from unjust detention at the hands of government.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said at a pre-rally event that he's concerned about terrorism, but he's not willing to destroy the constitution to fight it.
“We're the real conservatives because destroying the constitution isn't conservative,” Sanders said.
The Senate version of the Restoring the Constitution Act is S. 576. The House version is H.R. 1415. Both are awaiting action in each committee's Armed Services Committee.
The Senate version of the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act is S. 185. The House version is H.R. 1416.
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