FCNL's Response to the President & More - FCNL

FCNL's Response to the President & More www.fcnl.org * Support FCNL* Sign up for weekly updates from Washington * Update your email address September 12, 2006 From the Hill: Joe Volk Responds to the President The Quakers’ Colonel: The Permanent War Presidency Report Back: Thousands Join 9/11 Call For Freedom From Fear Report Back: Army Field Manual Rejects Torture Darfur: Urge the President to Appoint a Special Envoy Energy: The Real Cost of A Gallon of Gas FCNL Quote of the Week War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week To read this newsletter online visit www.fcnl.org/email/e-newsletter/12sept06.htm September 11: Joe Volk Responds to the President “Last night, I listened to your address to the nation on the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Your empathy and concern for the survivors of those attacks and for the loved ones of those who did not survive surely were comforting. Yet as I listened to you last night, you engendered in me a strong feeling that my president does not represent me or my community of faith. I was disappointed that you appeared to use the terror and suffering of September 11 for partisan political advantage in this congressional election season. President Bush, I urge you to join with the vast majority in the world who want a world ruled by law and not by the barrel of a gun, be the leader we need in these times. Civilization is protected by and built on law, not on war. Peace is possible, if you choose peaceful means to achieve it.” Read FCNL Executive Secretary Joe Volk’s response to the president’s statement on September 11 The Quakers’ Colonel: The Permanent War Presidency As August drew to a close, President Bush rolled out the latest hyperbolic rhetoric of the war on terror: equating anyone who does not actively and whole-heartedly support the administration’s interpretation of what constitutes today’s “tyranny and extremism” to the sympathizers of the Fascists, Nazis, Communists, and other 20th century totalitarians. But in dealing with these, a more insidious “-ism” slowly took hold in Washington: the unitary presidency that serves as the guidepost, the focus, for the Bush administration’s curtailment of fundamental liberties in the name of fighting terror and defending democracy – as they define it. Read more Report Back: Thousands Join 9/11 Call For Freedom From Fear Participants in the 9/11 Call for Freedom from Fear from Alabama, Oklahoma, California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and more than a dozen other states organized prayer services, workshops, vigils, and meetings with their members of Congress to urge the U.S. government to reject the failed policies of the “war on terror” and develop new policies to protect the people of the United States and invest in building the world we want. Read more about the weekend's event Report Back: Army Field Manual Rejects Torture After months of lobbying by FCNL constituents like you, thousands of people in the military, in Congress, and in the general public, the U.S. Army this week published a new field manual on interrogation guidelines that bans the torture of detainees like that documented in photographs from Abu Graib prison in Iraq. The new manual bans the practice of hooding prisoners, duct-taping their eyes, forcing them to be nude, or threatening them with dogs. The new regulations also establish a single standard for treatment of military prisoners, regardless of status, and requires prisoners to be accorded the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Read more about the changes to the Army Field Manual Darfur: Urge the President to Appoint a Special Envoy This is a critical moment in Sudan. The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed in May 2006 hangs from a thread. In order to salvage peace and move toward a comprehensive settlement, the U.S. and the international community must invest considerable diplomatic and financial resources in all aspects of the ongoing peace process to prevent Darfur’s best chance for peace from collapsing into further large-scale conflict. Read FCNL's letter to Congress supporting H. Res. 992, a resolution urging the President to appoint a presidential special envoy for Sudan that would ensure continuous high-level U.S. engagement in resolving the crises in Darfur. Energy: The Real Cost of A Gallon of Gas The price we pay for gasoline at the pump, although it seems high today at $3-plus per gallon, doesn’t begin to cover the real costs of our oil consumption. For every gallon of gas consumed, we pay an estimated extra $1.74 per gallon for the external social costs above the price at the pump. Read more in the September edition of the FCNL Washington Newsletter Quote of the week: "The president says the U.S. does not torture, and that all U.S. personnel followed the law in all interrogations of detainees following the attacks of September 11, 2001. If the president believes the U.S. followed the law, then why is he asking for Congress to pass legislation providing immunity from prosecution, retroactive to 2001, for U.S. personnel under the War Crimes Act?" Jeanne E. Herrick-Stare Senior Fellow for Civil Liberties and Human Rights War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week: ________________________________________ Contact Congress and the Administration Subscribe to other FCNL legislative, policy, and action alert lists. ________________________________________ Friends Committee on National Legislation 245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795 fcnl@fcnl.org * http://www.fcnl.org phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330 We seek a world free of war and the threat of war We seek a society with equity and justice for all We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled We seek an earth restored.