Media Advisory: April 21, 2013
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Member of National Task Force on Detainee Treatment Speaks in Pasadena
Task Force released report on two-year investigation this week in Washington
Washington, D.C. – Earlier this week, the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment released the long-anticipated report of its investigation into the detention and treatment of suspected terrorists. The report, available online at detaineetaskforce.org, is the product of more than two years of research and analysis by a bipartisan, independent panel of experts. Today, Task Force member David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University in Atlanta, Ga., and also an early leader of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), discussed the issue of U.S.-government sponsored torture and its potentially dangerous legacy, as well as the conclusions of the Task Force. The conversation took place as part of Sunday’s Rector’s Forum at All Saints Church in Pasadena, a 4,000-member Episcopal parish. The Rector's Forum is the main adult education program held at the church each Sunday between the two largest services.
Rev. Ed Bacon, the rector of All Saints Church, introduced Gushee and moderated questions and discussion, and Virginia Classick, vice president of the national board of NRCAT, and a member of All Saints Church, was also present on behalf of NRCAT and the church.
“The report breaks the recent silence and long-term obfuscation about our nation’s descent into state-sponsored torture,” Gushee said on the Task Force’s conclusions. “It offers the cleansing power of truth and more than a hint of national repentance. I call for the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report as well. Let the truth be told and the moral reclamation begin.”
Gushee examined five reasons why he, as a Christian ethicist, believes that torture is always wrong, and described his own work in confronting torture over the past seven years. Most of his presentation focused on the report of the Constitution Project’s Detainee Task Force. The Task Force released its report on Tuesday, April 16, at the National Press Club in Washington. Gushee discussed the report, its findings and its conclusions, primarily the findings that it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture, and that the nation’s highest officials bear some responsibility for the spread of torture.
As part of its mission to ensure that U.S.-sponsored torture never happens again, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture has supported the Constitution Project’s investigation into detainee treatment, and is now helping to spread the conclusions made in the Task Force’s report. Furthermore, since the Senate Intelligence Committee adopted a report on its own investigation in December on post-9/11 detainee treatment, NRCAT has also been calling for the public release of the still classified report.
“The Task Force report addresses a number of important issues about the treatment of detainees (including the contorted legal analyses that provided cover for the decision to use torture, the accounts of eye witnesses to the many acts of torture, the unethical role of numerous medical professionals, the weak role of the International Red Cross, and the location and number of torture sites),” said Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. “But the central finding is the unanimous, unequivocal agreement that what was done was in fact torture and violated the Constitution, our own laws and treaties, that what happened was ‘unprecedented,’ and that it requires a national response to acknowledge, condemn, repair and prevent the future use of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
“On behalf of the hundreds of diverse faith-based organizations that the National Religious Campaign Against Torture represents, we are proud to support the Constitution Project in its efforts to lay to rest any claims by perpetrators of U.S.-government-sponsored torture that what they ordered was not torture and that it did not violate the law and international standards of human rights. But this report is not enough. I join the distinguished members of the Task Force in calling on the Senate Intelligence Committee to release its even more comprehensive report on CIA torture. With transparency, the public release of these reports will help to create safeguards that ensure that U.S.-sponsored torture never happens again.”
The Task Force’s full report is available at detaineetaskforce.org; NRCAT has produced a two-page summary.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 320 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
www.nrcat.org
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