From the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (http://www.nrcat.org):
This week, a leaked draft executive order suggested that President Trump may revoke former President Obama’s 2009 executive order ending torture. Specifically, President Trump’s order would authorize reopening secret CIA black site prisons and begin a review of whether to resume the CIA torture program that Congress acted against by passing the McCain-Feinstein legislation in 2015. Equally troubling, this order would suspend all transfers out of Guantanamo, including detainees who have already been held for more than 10 years despite being cleared for release. The order would also clear the way to send new detainees to Guantanamo for detention without trial.
LET THE PRESIDENT HEAR FROM YOU at http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2162/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=20997: TORTURE IS ALWAYS WRONG.
Thankfully, Republican Members of Congress have spoken out to tell President Trump that he cannot bring back torture without changing the law. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senator John McCain this week all publicly opposed any attempt by the Administration to reinstitute the CIA torture program. Further, as noted in this recent op-ed by NRCAT Executive Director Ron Stief in The Christian Post, CIA Director Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mattis, Secretary of Homeland Security Kelly, and Senator Jeff Sessions all pledged to abide by U.S. law prohibiting CIA torture in their Senate confirmation hearings earlier this month.
President Trump, with his off the cuff remarks on torture, continues to ignore the evidence from the one truly comprehensive investigation into the CIA torture program – the investigation carried out by the Senate Intelligence Committee. After an extensive multi-year review, the Committee concluded that torture failed to produce information that could not have been provided by other means and that torture was a net negative for our security.
Please write to President Trump and your Members of Congress now. We need your help to ensure that President Trump gives up entirely on the leaked executive order. Tell the President that torture is always wrong. Additionally, please also write to your Members of Congress and tell them that you want them to oppose any effort to reinstitute torture.
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