ETHICS, torture is wrong even if John McCain thinks it's good politics

I've sent or will be sending the following letter to Proviso's Congressional delegation (Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, Representatives Danny K. Davis, Rahm Emanuel, Luis Gutierrez and Dan Lipinski).

Dear Senator Obama,

Torture is wrong. Torture by any other name is still odious.

Trials by secret evidence do not meet any reasonable standard of justice.

I don’t trust the government with the power to hold people indefinitely without access to the courts. This mistrust of the government possessing totalitarian power is at the essence of who we are as Americans.

You should not be browbeat or bamboozled into the supporting Bush’s torture bill because Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is.

Here’s what two commentators, a Republican (Andy Martin) and a Dem-leaner (Digby), have to say about McCain’s support of the legislation.

Martin:

[McCain’s] surrender to Bush Administration demands for broad power to torture prisoners disgraces him and makes him nothing more than just another blowhard and phony in Washington.

Digby:

I'm not sure if a man can sink lower than to leverage his heroic status as a tortured POW to codify his own government's torture policy. You really don't need to know any more about the man's character than this.

It doesn’t matter if McCain thinks supporting Bush’s torture bill will help his presidential ambitions or the Republican effort to keep control of Congress after the November elections. Torture is wrong.

I request you provide a statement about the Bush torture legislation to be published on Proviso Probe.

I encourage you to contact your senators and your representative and tell them how you feel about Bush seeking to make torture OK under U.S. law.