Prevention of Torture must make unmistakable the moral, ethical, religious, and legal revulsion of the American people.

From Rabbi Waskow at The Shalom Center

[Special note: I was ready this morning (Friday) to send out the invitations...for learning (and teaching) to be more effective religiously-rooted activists for healing the earth, when I learned that the White House and Department of Justice, pushed hard by the ACLU and other public pressure, including the Religious Coalition Against Torture and Rabbis for Human Rights/ North America, has released some crucial memos about the last Administration's actions to turn the use of torture into US public policy for the first time in history.

[Hallelu --YAH! -- May the Breath of Life be praised! Thanks be to God! Al'hahm'delillah!

[I am proud that The Shalom Center publicly condemned the use of torture as a systemic and sinful act in the spring of 2004, within a few weeks after the revelations of Abu Ghraib; I am proud that we presented Sy Hersh (who broke the story) with our "Menorah Award" in December 2004 for "bringing new light into dark places"; I am proud that we organized a dozen rabbis to meet with Senator Arlen Specter to urge him to oppose confirmation of Alberto Gonzales, leading proponent of legalizing torture, as Attorney-General; and I am proud to have had a hand in persuading Rabbis For Human Rights(RHR)/NA to take on this moral issue as its first work on human rights in America.

[I applaud the continuing public pressure that brought release of the documents, and I believe the evidence in them should be used to open up Congressional and independent investigations and the criminal prosecution of those who approved the use of torture. The only way to prevent some future government from reinstating torture is to make unmistakable the moral, ethical, religious, and legal revulsion of the American people. -- AW]