As you already know, John Ashcroft addressed the subject of whether waterboarding is torture at Knox College on Tuesday. Although most of his defenses were tripe, he actually had a valid point with this remark:
Congress has defined it [torture], the law has the definition. I don't believe the law has been violated--and if the law needs to be changed, you should talk to your congressman, not to me.
It's worth thinking about. Why has Congress done nothing to stop Ashcroft and his ilk? And why haven't we stepped up to the plate and forced our legislature to do their job?
I got a lot of emails and comments yesterday from people who wished they could have done what I did. To all of them, I say this: you and I together can do something better. We can make waterboarding and "enhanced interrogation" explicitly illegal once and for all.
We can pass Senate Bill 1943.
On August 2nd, 2007, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the following bill:
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1943
To establish uniform standards for interrogation techniques applicable to individuals under the custody or physical control of the United States Government.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 2, 2007
Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish uniform standards for interrogation techniques applicable to individuals under the custody or physical control of the United States Government.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES APPLICABLE TO INDIVIDUALS UNDER CONTROL OR CUSTODY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
(a) In General- No individual in the custody or under the effective control of the United States Government or any agency or instrumentality thereof, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by sections 5-50 through 5-99 of the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations.
(b) Prohibited Actions- The treatment or techniques of interrogation prohibited under subsection (a) include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Forcing an individual to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner.
(2) Placing a hood or sack over the head of an individual, or using or placing duct tape over the eyes of an individual.
(3) Applying a beating, electric shock, burns, or other forms of physical pain to an individual.
(4) Subjecting an individual to the procedure known as `waterboarding'.
(5) Subjecting an individual to threats or attack from a military working dog.
(6) Inducing hypothermia or heat injury in an individual.
(7) Conducting a mock execution of an individual.
(8) Depriving an individual of necessary food, water, or medical care.
(c) Applicability- Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to any individual in the custody or under the effective control of the United States Government pursuant to a criminal law or immigration law of the United States.
(d) Construction- Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the rights under the United States Constitution of any individual in the custody or under the effective control of the United States Government.
The bill was read twice, and then referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Eight months later, the bill is still languishing in committee. My fellow Kossacks, we must not let this bill die! I call upon all of you to take the following actions:
- PRESSURE THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO TAKE ACTION.
Five of the nineteen members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are already sponsors/cosponsors of the bill--Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). That leaves five Democrats and nine Republicans to whom we need to make our case. If everyone who read my diary yesterday, either on Kos or cross-blogged elsewhere, writes just one letter and sends a copy to each remaining committee member, that's at least two or three thousand pieces of email in each committee member's inbox! And if each of those email writers convinces just two other people to also write a email, that number goes up to six to nine thousand emails per senator. And if each of those new email writers convinces just two other people, that number jumps up to fourteen to twenty-one thousand emails! And if each of those email writers sends a new batch of emails once a week until the committee meets to discuss the bill, or once a day...I leave you to do the math.
The contact information of the remaining fourteen committee members can be found as follows (an asterick indicates members of the relevant judiciary subcommittee, the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, of which Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and Dick Durbin are also members):
-Democrats-
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
http://leahy.senate.gov/...
Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)*
http://cardin.senate.gov/...
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)*
http://feingold.senate.gov/...
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)
http://kohl.senate.gov/...
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
http://whitehouse.senate.gov/...
-Republicans-
Sen. Samuel Brownback (R-KS)*
http://brownback.senate.gov/...
Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-OK)*
http://coburn.senate.gov/...
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)*
http://cornyn.senate.gov/...
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)*
http://lgraham.senate.gov/...
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA)
http://grassley.senate.gov/...
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
http://hatch.senate.gov/...
Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ)*
http://kyl.senate.gov/...
Sen. Jefferson Sessions (R-AL)
http://sessions.senate.gov/...
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)
http://specter.senate.gov/...
Please be civil in your emails.
- PRESSURE SENATE DEMOCRATS TO ACTIVELY SUPPORT OR COSPONSOR THE BILL.
Eight Democratic senators are currently sponsoring the bill--Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). That leaves 41 Democrats. Under normal circumstances, it would be safe to assume that our senators would stand up for human rights without prompting, but I think we can agree that that kind of spine has certainly been lacking lately. We need to make them do their job, and we can do that by reminding them that it is we, the American people, whom they should fear, not the Bush administration!
Contact information for the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee not yet sponsoring the bill are listed above. The rest can be found here:
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)
http://byrd.senate.gov/...
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
http://inouye.senate.gov/...
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)
http://baucus.senate.gov/...
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
http://levin.senate.gov/...
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
http://bingaman.senate.gov/...
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
http://rockefeller.senate.gov/...
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
http://mikulski.senate.gov/...
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
http://reid.senate.gov/...
Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
http://akaka.senate.gov/...
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
http://dorgan.senate.gov/...
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
https://boxer.senate.gov/...
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
http://murray.senate.gov/...
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
http://wyden.senate.gov/...
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD)
http://johnson.senate.gov/...
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI)
http://reed.senate.gov/...
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
http://landrieu.senate.gov/...
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
http://lincoln.senate.gov/...
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)
http://bayh.senate.gov/...
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)
http://billnelson.senate.gov/...
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE)
http://carper.senate.gov/...
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
http://stabenow.senate.gov/...
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
http://cantwell.senate.gov/...
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)
http://bennelson.senate.gov/...
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
http://clinton.senate.gov/...
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/...
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR)
http://pryor.senate.gov/...
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
http://obama.senate.gov/...
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO)
http://salazar.senate.gov/...
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
http://menendez.senate.gov/...
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
http://brown.senate.gov/...
Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
http://casey.senate.gov/...
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)
http://webb.senate.gov/...
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
http://mccaskill.senate.gov/...
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
http://klobuchar.senate.gov/...
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
http://tester.senate.gov/...
Once again, please be civil.
- CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE.
To the best of my knowledge, a companion bill has yet to be introduced in the House. If your Representative is a Democrat, urge them to introduce one! If we can get a companion bill into the House now, it will draw attention back to the Senate bill as well as potentially speed the process of making this bill a law. (Because there are so many Representatives, you're on your own to contact yours. Just type in thelastnameofyourrep.house.gov and you should be able to find the contact information on the site without difficulty.)
- SPREAD THE WORD.
I cannot stress this enough. The more people we get on board with this campaign, the more successful we are likely to be. If we can get this bill as much netroots exposure as my Ashcroft diary, we might just be able to pull this off! I will cross-post this at MyDD, but I'm counting on the rest of you to give this bill the further exposure it deserves.
Together, we can stop torture. Together, we can stick it to Ashcroft in a way that really makes a difference.
Together, we can pass Senate Bill 1943. It's all up to us.