Letter to Senate from Bishop Wenski on Proposed Amendment of War Crimes Act, September 15, 2006

Letter from Bishop Thomas G. Wenski, Chairman, Committee on International Policy to Senate on Proposed Amendment of War Crimes Act, September 15, 2006

As Chairman of the Committee on International Policy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I write regarding proposed legislation to create military commissions and to amend the War Crimes Act.  I urge you to make sure that the United States continues to insist upon the highest ethical standards and fully complies with U.S. commitments to observe international law in its treatment of detainees whether here in the United States or abroad.  

Last year our Conference of Bishops encouraged Congress to adopt provisions in the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Act prescribing uniform standards for the interrogation of persons under the detention of the Department of Defense and prohibiting cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of persons under the custody or control of the United States government.  We welcomed President Bush’s endorsement of those provisions.  When Congress adopted them, the United States began to answer the profound moral question of how we should treat detainees.  This issue has a major impact on human dignity and on the way the United States is viewed abroad. 

We hope that through these recent actions the United States will regain the moral high ground on this issue.  We also hope that these favorable actions will not be jeopardized by any proposed or adopted legislation that would appear to once again decriminalize torture and abusive conduct.  Any legislation adopted by the Congress must be unambiguous on these issues, just as the newly adopted U.S. Army Field Manual is unambiguous in rejecting torture and cruel treatment as dangerous, unreliable and illegal.

letter-to-senate-from-bishop-wenski-on-military-commissions-and-war-crimes-act-2006-09-15.pdf