Bush urged to 'tell the truth about torture'

A red-and-black, 22-by-10-foot billboard mounted on a truck and emblazoned with the words "Tell the truth about torture, Mr. President" began circling the White House on Jan. 25 as activists ratcheted up efforts to force President George W. Bush to confront US treatment of terrorism suspects. The mobile billboard will keep goading Bush to "be honest about all allegations of US acts of torture here and abroad" in the administration's self-styled "war on terror" until Jan. 31, when he is scheduled to deliver his annual State of the Union speech to Congress, said Amnesty International USA spokesperson Sharon Singh. The human rights watchdog group deployed the mobile billboard as part of a two-week campaign including an online petition. Launched two weeks ago, that effort so far has drawn "at least 25,000 signatures," Singh said. "Americans believe in justice and due process, and that everyone is entitled to due process. We have certain values," she said. "Ultimately, we the US (sic) are seen as an upholder of human rights and we need to continue to do that." Amnesty is among a number of organizations and lawmakers calling for an independent commission to investigate alleged mistreatment of terrorism suspects on US soil, at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Guantánamo military base in Cuba, and at secret interrogation centers in Afghanistan and other countries. The same day, Amnesty sent Bush a letter imploring him to make clear during his State of the Union speech that "anyone responsible, even at the highest levels, for policies that have led to torture and ill-treatment will be held accountable and to ensure such abuses do not occur in the future." In the letter, William Schulz, Amnesty International USA's executive director, said his group welcomed passage late last year of the Anti-Torture Amendment, a piece of legislation he described as "reaffirming the US prohibition against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." Bush signed the legislation, Schulz added, but the president also issued a "signing statement," or legal interpretation of the amendment, stating that it would not bind him in all circumstances. Further diluting the law was another amendment to the final defense spending bill that for the first time "allows information gained through torture to be used in military proceedings and restrains the ability of detainees to challenge their detention in federal courts," Schulz added. "Your administration appears to be sending a mixed message about its commitment to stop and condemn torture. It also appears to be creating legal loopholes so as to be able to continue abusive tactics," he wrote to Bush. The Bush administration has defended its practices as legal and necessary to gather intelligence that could help in its fight against terrorists. In addition to raising human rights-based objections to torture, critics have countered that information thus extracted is unreliable and that by torturing foreigners, the US government has increased the risk that its own troops and citizens will be tortured. Additionally, they have said that the use of secret prisons and interrogation centers–so-called black sites allegedly set up by the Central Intelligence Agency–is prohibited under US and international law.