This letter was sent today, October 2, 2009, by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Dear Friends:
As you know, the prison at Guantanamo Bay is widely viewed as a symbol of our country's use of torture. Many believe its closure is an important step that the U.S. must take to tell the world we do not support cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, including torture.
A conference committee made up of a small number of Members of Congress, including Senator Specter, will play a decisive role in deciding whether or not President Obama will be able to close Guantanamo Bay in the foreseeable future. They will be meeting, probably within the next week, to decide whether the Homeland Security Appropriations bill will include a provision that would bar detainees at Guantanamo from being brought to the United States for any reason. This provision would make it much harder to close Guantanamo and would also make it difficult to bring terrorists to justice. Unfortunately, however, the House of Representatives just voted 258-163 in favor of a non-binding resolution that encourages members of the conference committee to support that provision.
You can help close Guantanamo by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and asking to speak with Senator Specter. Tell his office that you support efforts to close Guantanamo and that you hope the Senator will oppose any effort to include a provision barring detainees from being transferred to the United States in the Homeland Security Appropriations bill.
Here is one possible sample script: "The prison at Guantanamo Bay shames our nation. I support efforts to close that prison. Furthermore, I also believe that U.S. prisons are more than capable of safely handling Guantanamo detainees. Please do not include restrictions on transferring detainees to the United States in the final version of the Homeland Security Appropriations bill."
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director
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