high school students urge President to stop torture

[raacluse]

The following was excerpted and edited from 2 accounts (July 3 and July 11) by leftist radio host, Amy Goodman:

AMY GOODMAN: For years, the Bush administration has come under heavy criticism from human rights groups, legal scholars, members of Congress, for its detention policies and support for torture in the so-called war on terror. But last week, President Bush got a rebuke from an unexpected source.

Last Monday, the President was meeting with this year’s Presidential Scholars, a program designed “to recognize and provide leadership development experiences for some of America’s most outstanding graduating high-school seniors.” [141 of them were visiting the White House.]

One of them handed him a letter signed by fifty of the students. It read, "As members of the Presidential Scholars class of 2007, we have been told that we represent the best and brightest of our nation. Therefore, we believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions. We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants.”

One of [the students], Mari Oye, from Wellesley, Mass., describes what happened:

MARI OYE: Well, it actually took place outside on the White House lawn. We were facing the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, so that seemed like a good omen in some way. And we were all lined up. It was ninety-five degrees outside. The President walked in and said that -- gave us a short speech saying that as we went on into our careers, it was important to treat others as we would like to be treated. And he told us that we would have to make choices we would be able to live with for the rest of our lives.

I had the letter in my hand, and Leah had another copy. And so, I said to the President, “Several of us made a choice, and we would like you to have this,” and handed him the letter. He put it in his pocket and said, “I’ll have it.” And they took the photo. After that, he took it out and said, “Should I read it now, or should I wait?” And I said, “It’s up to you, Mr. President.” And he did read the letter to himself right there. And then we were able to talk about it very briefly.

AMY GOODMAN: And what did he say? How did he respond?

MARI OYE: He read down the letter. He got to the part about torture. He looked up, and he said, "America doesn’t torture people”. And I said, “If you look specifically at the points we made” -- because we were careful to outline specific things that are wrong with the administration’s policy. He said -- so I said, “If you look specifically at what we said, we said, we ask you to cease illegal renditions,” and then I said, you know, “Please remove your signing statement to the McCain anti-torture bill.” * And then I said that for me personally, the issue of detainee rights also had a lot of importance, because my grandparents had been interned during World War II for being Japanese American.

At that point, he just said, “America doesn’t torture people” again. And another kid, actually, from Montana came forward and said, “Please make the US a leader in human rights.” And that happened in the space of about a minute, but it was a very interesting minute with the President of the United States...

_______
*...after Bush signed the bill that outlawed the torture of detainees last year, he quietly issued a “signing statement” reserving the right to bypass the law, as he has more than 1,100 times, issuing more signing statements than all other U.S. presidents combined. (AG)



http://www.democracynow.org/article....=thread&tid=25
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/11/2440/

[SunWuKong]

regardless of whether or not you agree with the students' views, i think that's impressive. when i was in high school, i was more concerned about video games and comic books than politics.

[Faithless]

Bush. Puh. They won't admit it. But then they say there's nothing wrong with. What's wrong with just saying they used it and justify it with their screwed up views on how to fight terrarrr.