Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law
Dear Colleagues,
Guide my feet Lord, while I run this race.
Guide my feet Lord, while I run this race.
Guide my feet Lord, while I run this race.
’cause I don’t want to run this race in vain.
– Guide my feet Lord (sung at Trinity Episcopal Church, Toledo, this morning) on youtube at http://youtu.be/erTa9FeJWKw
Please note the article below which describes the continuing mendacity in the military, intelligence, and White House with respect to compliance with US obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture about which Advocates for US Torture Prosecutions have made a shadow report to the UN Committee Against Torture, have spoken in the Civil Society delegation to the US Government on October 14, 2014, and will speak on in several events during the UN Committee Against Torture review of the US periodic report about its compliance with these obligations during the week of November 11 in Geneva at the United Nations Palais des Nations and Palais Wilson.
I have no doubt that current and former military and intelligence senior officials who played key roles in enabling the torture are at the heart of this effort to backslide the United States. They may think they are doing this in the best interest of the United States and in good faith, but let us not let even good intentions deter us. I personally think it is nothing more than craven personal self-interest at work to try again – as they have done at every step of the process of getting accountability including in the still unreleased Senate Select Committee on Intelligence torture report – to deflect criticism from former President Bush and the senior leaders who authorized, aided and abetted, acquiesced in and facilitated torture in a program that spanned 54 countries.
I have sent before the Advocates for US Torture Prosecutions shadow report (http://www.blog.saltlaw.org/reminder-sign-on-possibility-for-the-un-committee-against-torture-shadow-report-of-advocates-for-us-torture-prosecutions/ and http://warisacrime.org/content/shadow-report-torture) and I send it again as we are gearing up our final effort to solicit signatures from people of goodwill to reinforce our efforts to make the absolute prohibition on torture absolute in words and deeds for the US Government no matter how high one is in the separation of powers or in our federalism. It is time for the mighty to be laid low, for the sin of the emperor to be recognized not as a mistake but as the crime it is, and for the public trust the people place in those leaders to be respected.
If you would like to join the shadow report, I would be grateful if you would send a message to Deborah Popowski of the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic at dpopowski@law.harvard.edu.
Thank you for your consideration of this message.
Best,
Ben