Contact: Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT, (202) 547-1920,
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Alanna Sobel, NRCAT, (202) 265-3000,
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Religious Leaders React to WikiLeaks Revelations on Torture Cables reveal U.S. government pressured Spanish officials to drop potential criminal investigations of U.S. officials
WASHINGTON – Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), issued the following statement in response to the revelations that U.S. diplomats put pressure on Spain to end an inquiry into the Bush administration’s use of torture.
Contact: Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT, (202) 547-1920,
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Alanna Sobel, NRCAT, (202) 265-3000,
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Bush Said “Damn Right” to Torture.
Religious Leaders Condemn Decision, Call for Full Inquiry
WASHINGTON – National religious leaders are condemning former President George W. Bush’s reported prideful defense of torturing detainees in his new memoir, Decision Points, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) announced today.
In the memoir to be released next week, the former president claims that he said “damn right” when the CIA asked for permission to torture Khalid Sheikh Mohammed by waterboarding him. He also admitted to authorizing waterboarding for other "senior al Qaeda leaders."
Contact: Alanna Sobel,
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, (202) 265-3000
Rev. Richard Killmer, (207) 450-7242
National Religious Campaign Against Torture Calls for a Full Investigation into Detainee Abuse Claims
In light of new evidence uncovered in files released by the Wikileaks organization, Rev. Richard L. Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture released the following statement:
"Unless and until the United States Government conducts a full-blown investigation into the treatment of post-9/11 detainees, including the use of torture by U.S. officials and the apparent acquiescence in the use of torture by Iraq and other countries, the United States will fail to live up to its most cherished values. There is no excuse for not conducting such an investigation -- no matter how desperate the economic times, no matter how partisan the political landscape. This is not a matter we can ignore. We must uncover the truth, make it public, and vow to do everything we can to put an end to U.S.-sponsored torture once and for all."
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Investigate Torture Experimentation
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Contact: Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT, (202) 547-1920,
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Alanna Sobel, NRCAT, (202) 265-3000,
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Religious Leaders: U.S. Investigation into Guatemala Medical Experiments
Makes the Case for a Full Investigation into Torture Experimentation
WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration must fully investigate allegations of forced medical experimentation on post-9/11 detainees in U.S. custody in the same way that President Obama pledged to uncover how American doctors intentionally infected nearly 700 Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) said today.
NRCAT believes that the report released in June by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) detailing how the Bush Administration’s “enhanced” interrogation program included illegal and unethical human subject research on detainees merits the same commitment to a full investigation as the Guatemalan case. The PHR report uncovered and documented evidence of the involvement of U.S. military and intelligence health professionals in performing medical experiments with respect to various torture techniques on post 9/11 detainees in the custody of the U.S.
“The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is deeply concerned about the growing anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions emerging in the United States in the past few months. While anti-Muslim sentiments, as misguided as they are, are not new to our country, they have become more common, seemingly more accepted, and, thus, more dangerous.
As a multi-faith organization with members from almost all the major faith groups in the United States, including major Muslim organizations, we at NRCAT are deeply concerned about this development both for the consequences to our country as a whole and to our Muslim friends and colleagues.
CIA INTERROGATION TAPES FOUND UNDER DESK!
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY NEEDED NOW
WASHINGTON, DC - In
response to the recent AP report that in 2007 the CIA discovered three tapes of
interrogations carried out in a secret prison in Morocco, and twice failed to
disclose the existence of these tapes to a federal judge, Rev. Richard L.
Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture,
issued the following statement:
"We already know that the CIA destroyed 92 video tapes of the
interrogation of detainees many of which show them being tortured. Now, we learn that the CIA has hidden the
existence of three other tapes for three years - failing even to disclose the
fact of their existence to a federal judge.
We don't know what is on these new tapes, but their very existence (and
the fact that it took so many years for their existence to be made known) is
another demonstration of the compelling need
for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate our past use of torture and to
determine what safeguards are needed to prevent its future use. Only a thorough investigation will be able to
shine a light on all of the unanswered questions."
Religious Organizations Call for Investigation of Alleged Medical Experiments on Detainees
WASHINGTON— Twenty religious organizations, led by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), are calling on Congress and President Obama to ensure a thorough investigation into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) engaged in illegal and unethical human subject research and experimentation on detainees after 9/11 and to make the findings public. The allegations were contained in a report released last month by the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
This action follows a recent decision by the Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to decline to investigate the original complaint filed by PHR, NRCAT, twenty religious organizations and various human rights organizations. Instead it referred the complaint to the CIA.
Torture Lawyer Jay Bybee Confirms CIA Use of Illegal Interrogation Techniques
(Washington) The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), a campaign of over 285 religious organizations working together to abolish U.S.-sponsored torture, responded today to the admission made by Judge Jay Bybee, who formerly headed the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), that the CIA used torture techniques beyond even those approved by the OLC.
National
Religious Leaders Denounce Health Professionals' Involvement in Experiments on
Detainees People
from all faiths demand a Commission of Inquiry to investigate
the
use of torture-including its use in medical experiments
Washington, D.C. - National representatives
from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths joined together this morning to once
again call for a nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry to investigate the use of
torture, this time highlighting the use of torture in medical experiments.
"We
have adamantly opposed and consistently spoken out against U.S.-sponsored
torture. Torture is immoral and abhorrent, violating the teachings of all our
religious traditions," said Rev. Richard L. Killmer, Executive Director of the
National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). "Just as adamantly, we now
condemn these alleged acts of illegal and immoral experimentation. Separate and
distinct from the torture, such medical experiments could themselves constitute
war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity."
NEW VIDEO: National Faith Leaders Join Outcry Over
American Use of Forced Medical Experimentation, Call for a Commission of Inquiry
Video features PHR report's lead author, diverse
group of religious leaders
WASHINGTON-National
faith leaders are adding their voices to the outcry over the new report by
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that finds that doctors under the Bush
Administration conducted illegal and unethical human experimentation on
detainees in CIA custody. A video released today by the National Religious
Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) the religious leaders implore Americans to
demand that Congress establish a Commission of Inquiry to uncover all the facts
behind the growing body of evidence that the U.S. violated U.S. law when it
engaged in torture and to recommend safeguards that are needed to make sure
that torture never happens again.
A
copy of the video Accounting for Torture:
Being Faithful to our Values can be accessed at www.nrcat.org/act.
