So this is what I am sending to our two democratic senators

[nadinbrzezinski]

who seeem to have a moral dilema here

Dear Senator Schumer.

I am horrified that you have chosen to approve Judge Mukassey’s nomination to be the next Attorney General of the United States. There are many reasons why I am horrified, and they have names. As a worker for a humanitarian organization I took testimony many years ago about the horrors perpetrated in Central America.

The favorite enhanced interrogation technique back then was also the five-hundred year old “water cure.” There were others, which I am sure the CIA is also using, such as hanging a prisoner from his or her wrists from a tube, and giving them a bag of food, the only sustenance for days. The problem with this is that the constant pull on the shoulder joints causes immense pain and at times permanent damage. Of course it will stop the moment the prisoner tells the torturer what they want to know... never mind it is what they want to hear... not what the prisoners knows.

Other techniques used by the torturers involved water and car batteries and cables. Yes, that photo from Abu Ghraib is exactly that... combined with posture techniques that force the body into positions that cause joint damage.

We have not gone into the ever so popular bamboo shoot, or other item, under the nails, as far as we know.... but I have to wonder.

Having listened to mostly women who were also raped in front of their husbands and children I realize this is torture. I also realize that the ancient water cure, what you euphemistically call water boarding, is torture. I have not been read into any classified program... and quite frankly I don’t need to. I have heard the victims of these torture techniques tell me details that belong in nightmares.

Here is the question. Are you willing to confirm a man who apparently has a moral quandary recognizing the obvious, and that it breaks US Law... or will you do the right thing and not confirm him?

And no, to those of us who have listened to the victims of police states, this is not a minor vote, for it marks our descent into that hell, and you are one of the enablers if you vote for this

Sincerely,

********
Former Red Cross Worker.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. K&R

No other words are possible, or necessary...:cry:

[Canuckistanian]

2. That's a good letter

Let's hope it at least gives them pause.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Well former Judge Advocates sent letters today as well

I figured just calling was not enough

Time to put my credentials out there...

In fact, it is ridicolous we are even having this conversation

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. A South African I work with said,

that positions are being taken publically in America today that would have been a scandal IN South Africa under Apartheid.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. And that was not a nice place to be

this country will need a reconciliation commision when it is all over

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. If I didn't think it would get me a visit from the FBI...

I would send them copies of "The Purge", it is essential reading in post-war French history but it might not be interpreted that way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I've sent things over the last seven years

that actually make that letter tame...

I expect another audit in a year.

;-)

[tammywammy]

5. Good Letter!

[FREEWILL56]

9. K&R

Seeing as how Shumer thinks Mukasey is ok and thusly so is waterboarding then wb to him is not torture and then not illegal to do. Ask him to consent to it being done to him (so he does not claim assault and battery or false imprisonment afterwards) if he believes that is so and see if he thinks the same about it afterwards.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Since he recomended him to begin with he put himself in a hole

and no I woudl not ask anybody to subject themselves to it.

[lvx35]

10. Awesome. I wish I could sign it myself.

I am so disgusted.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Trust me, you don't

I expect nice dreams tonight :sarcasm:

[Bluestar]

13. A great letter--my email to Feinstein was a lot more snide and

cutting. I can't even remember what I said because I was so angry. But at least I said it.

Thanks to you for adding such important context from your experience. I can't believe that her office isn't flooded with angry responses from California constituents tonight. She must not give a damn what we think.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. It is

sending it was interesting...

[tom_paine]

15. Nicely worded. A clear moral quandry.

One in which I am sure Senator Schumer has given considerable thought in a strategic and political way, but moral...to paraphrase Jon Stewart "not so much".

[BrklynLib at work]

16. I called Schumer's office yesterday and let the person who answered know in no uncertain terms that

I was horrified by Schumer's attitude, and that it was going to cost him his seat in the Senate.

[bdamomma]

17. that is the way to do it, vote him out and NO DONATIONS

to his committee. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

[nashville_brook]

18. i've heard his support of The Muke explained (away) as NY patronage --

as if, nothing to see here, move along. as if NY patronage get a pass b/c it's SO entrenched.

tyranny is banal.