Ithaca, New York
November 2006

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:
Congress passed the Military Commissions Act last month, and you signed it into law. As I understand from looking at the text, this law allows a President, or persons he delegates, to declare someone to be an enemy combatant. Then, whether or not he is one, the person would not be able to challenge this determination in court. The wording of the law would retroactively deny such a person the right of habeas corpus, which has applied to citizens and non-citizens equally since the beginning of our nation. If appeals courts uphold such a denial, a person could be held without limit. I urge you not to make use of this law. If you want justice to be done, it can be done convincingly only in real courts with real, established guarantees. In a trial in a real court, information gained via torture or other ill-treatment is recognized as unreliable; it should not be admitted in military commissions either.
In the text of the Act, it is an offense “to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind.” It is easy to agree that nobody should do such things. Why then is there a provision “No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas corpus or other civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States is a party as a source of rights in any court of the United States or its States or territories.” Why would any law seek to limit the application of any protective conventions that this country has solemnly agreed to? That seems to say that nobody can object to officers, soldiers, and other agents of the United States doing just the same things that others cannot do.
We here in Ithaca have just witnessed an example of the ruinous effects of arrests, trials, and verdicts made without proper procedures for challenging them. We had a visit from Mr. Ray Krone, who was falsely convicted of a murder that took place in Arizona in 1991. The prosecutor had forensic evidence including DNA that proved someone else was the killer, but only after six years and two trials did he agree to turn it over to the defense for testing. Mr. Krone was the 100th in a long series of people originally sentenced to death and later proved to be innocent. If the right of the defense to challenge the process and get the evidence had been further interfered with, Mr. Krone would have been executed and the real guilty party would have gotten away with the crime. If justice at the local level needs challenges and checks, can we believe that the executive branch at the federal level is error-free?
I urge you, Mr. President, to consider carefully what precedents you wish to set for future holders of your office. If you create one category of prisoners that lacks time-honored rights and can be kept in secret, some successor of yours may decide to create others, and our rights will end up being just for a fraction of us and not for all.
Yours sincerely,

MEETING: Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006, 7:30 pm, Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Ave., Cornell West Campus. (Take driveway downhill to building with covered entranceway, in front door. Parking allowed evenings.) Info: 273-3009.

>>>> Can’t be at the whole meeting? Come early or late, sign even a single card!

AGENDA: ? Write letters on Urgent Action cases, cards, petitions: signatures are powerful!

• Report on Indigo Girls concert (and sign remaining petitions).

• How do we mark Human Rights Day Dec. 10? Join AIUSA’s Write-A-Thon?

• Plans for elections for group coordinator(s).

• Who can take over the Bulletin Board with Amnesty information at the Women’s Community Building? (Volunteers needed.)

• Future of our TV show.

• Report from Northeast Regional Meeting of AIUSA–Nov. 11-12 at Boston University?

• Reports and updates on campaigns. Action File (prisoner case in Eritrea). Other current campaigns and a Special Action Case that we may want to join.

NEXT MONTH’S MEETING: Tues. Dec. 19, 2006, 7:30, same place. Always the 3rd Tuesday. (Bring interested friends!)

Amnesty relies on the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 30 articles with rights all should have everywhere. An article for November: Art. 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

How many legs does a horse have, if you call his tail a leg? “Four,” answered Abraham Lincoln, “because calling his tail a leg doesn’t make it one.” Amnesty is very concerned about the Military Commissions Act passed in September. According to it, the President–not Abraham Lincoln this time–can call you an unlawful combatant and detain you indefinitely. Trials? Only by the military, without civilian rights. Detainees could be convicted on evidence obtained through torture or ill-treatment. On the other hand, officials who may have committed actual war crimes will be immune from prosecution. Have a look at AI’s video . Sign the pledge and take action at http://AmnestyUSA.org/believe. Look at the text of the bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.+3930: (it’s the third of the four listings). This is also the topic of our…

SAMPLE LETTER: U.S.A. Please send this letter or write your own to the President at the address given (regular 39¢ stamp). Or e-mail comments@whitehouse.gov or fax 202-456-2461.

POSTAGE rates: U.S.A. cards 24¢, letters 39¢. Canada, Mexico cards 55¢, letters 63¢. Other countries: 75¢ – 84¢.

TV Show: Cable Channel 13. Weekly 30-minute program (premiere and 2 repeats). Tues. 9 PM, Wed. 11 PM, and Fri. 9 PM.

Info: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/; find “Amnesty International” on Channel 13 grid, or http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/. Series coming to an end; watch for statement next month.

*621 Promises of Ubuntu in the new South Africa 11/14,15,17

A presentation by Mecke Nagel, Dept of Philosophy-SUNY Cortland, at the Institute for African Development.

*622 Vigilant Justice 11/21, 22, 24**

Presentations at the 2004 Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International US by Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Region AI USA, John Shattuck, J.F Kennedy Library & Foundation, Jessica Stern and Taslima Nasrin, Harvard University J.F. Kennedy School of Government.

*623* *The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 12/5,6,8

A reading of the Declaration’s Articles by the Ithaca Community, 2005.

*624 The Campaign against Torture 12/12,13,15

*625 Human Needs, Human Rights 12/19,20,22**

Amnesty International and the Movement for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Interested in helping out? Contact Wies, pmv4@cornell.edu or 257-3156. **Studio might not be open certain days.

IN THE AREA: STARS (Students for Tolerance, Awareness, and Remembering Survivors), Cornell’s genocide awareness group, presents Gabriel Bol Deng, a “Lost Boy of Sudan” who fled from the civil war in South Sudan as a child. He will speak about his personal experiences and about Darfur in Kaufman Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, 5:45-7:15 pm Wed. Nov. 15. Info: Ray Bai rb279@cornell.edu.

Cornell AI meets Mondays 5:30 in 160 Goldwin Smith. Friday tabling with petitions 11-2 Willard Straight/Ho Plaza; Thursday Letter Writing 6:30-8:30 Collegetown Bagels/Robert Purcell CC alternate weeks. Write for info. Campaigns they are working on this semester: Child Soldiers, Human Trafficking, Stop Torture and a Prisoner of Conscience. Contacts: Matt Krueger mek42@cornell.edu / Katie Bowers khb4@cornell.edu.

Ithaca College AI hosted a regional conference of student groups Oct. 14 with Matthew Kennis, AIUSA field organizer. Jackie Swift from our group, Laurie Konwinski (CUSLAR), Shawn Martel Moore of the County Human Rights Commission, and IC professor Alicia Swords spoke on careers in human rights.

Alternative Community School: Students for Social Responsibility write AI Urgent Action letters, show films. Contact: Rebecca Godin rgodin@icsd.k12.ny.us .

The Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition, concerned about the “climate of fear and insecurity for both documented and undocumented immigrants” caused by federal laws and local law-enforcement raids, seeks donations to set up a 24-hour Spanish/English hotline. (Two Latino workers were detained in Collegetown in September, and only with expert help could they be freed.) Address: c/o Catholic Charities, 324 W. Buffalo St.

Cornell’s Einaudi Center for International Studies presents UN trouble-shooter and former Under-Secretary-General LAKHDAR BRAHIMI on “May We Please Listen to the Darfurians Themselves? Sudan’s Lost Voices.” 4:30 Nov. 21, G90 Myron Taylor Hall. Brahimi was sent to Khartoum in May 2006 by Secretary-General Annan to discuss the role of the UN in the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement and to prepare for the proposed U.N. force in Darfur.

OUT IN THE WORLD: Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death in one of his several trials in Iraq. AI is consistent -not even mass murderers should be sentenced to death.

In Iran Sina Paymand was sentenced to death for a murder he allegedly committed at age 16. His last request was to be allowed to play the flute. Family members of the victim were moved by his playing and agreed to forgive him in exchange for blood money. We hope his family and theirs can agree on the sum–if not, he still could be executed!

AI’s Stop Torture newsletter: http://www.amnesty.org/email/torture/issue3-eng.html points out that many Guantanamo detainees are there only because somebody in Pakistan “sold” them to get a $5000 reward from the U.S.

Good news sometimes: in Eritrea, Christian singer Helen Berhane was released in October after 2 ½ years. See http://www.amnestyusa.org/success/index.do for this and other reasons for rejoicing.

Nov. 1, Amnesty gave Nelson Mandela its Ambassador of Conscience award in South Africa. Meanwhile the Sydney, Australia, Peace Foundation gave its Peace Prize to AI’s Secretary General Irene Khan for “leadership as a courageous advocate of universal respect for human rights” and her “efforts to eliminate violence against women.”

After three years of campaigning, on October 26, 139 governments voted for a UN resolution to start work towards an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). While 24 governments abstained, the United States was the only government to vote against the resolution. This is a step toward “establishing common standards for the import, export, and transfer of conventional arms”–highly desired by Amnesty, given that uncontrolled weapons are used widely against the civilians of the world.

Our group’s new updated Web site (kindness of Govind Acharya as well as Jesse Ernst): http://www.ithacaamnesty.org/. Keep the Newsletter coming: renew subscriptions! $5/year to “AI Group #73, Ithaca,” c/o W. Browne, 206 Eddy St., Ithaca NY 14850, 273-3009. Rather get it by e-mail? Ask ewb2@cornell.edu. Info: co-coordinators Charlotte Acharya 227-3471 cba9@cornell.edu; Jackie Swift, swiftlyme@yahoo.com, 256-0050.