Dear:
Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about the treatment and prosecution of terrorist combatants captured in the global war on terror. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.
This war, which is unlike any other conflict our nation has fought before, has presented our country with many unprecedented and difficult choices. In particular, the debate surrounding the proper treatment and prosecution of captured terrorists has focused our attention on the fundamental problem of how to balance our desire to treat all people with proper dignity with our need to prevent future terrorist attacks.
This is a crucial debate. The strength of America depends on the preservation of our values. At its core, our society respects the dignity of every human life. Our nation can never support the use of torture, even when dealing with truly evil enemies. All sides of this debate agree that torture is unacceptable and that basic human rights must be preserved and protected at all levels of our government and military. We also agree that terrorists who are detained in this war should be afforded an appropriate legal process. However, terrorist detainees simply cannot and should not be afforded the same rights and process that our citizens enjoy in our courts.
As you are aware, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the procedures used to prosecute terrorist combatants must comply with U.S. statutes and the terms of the Geneva Conventions. As a result of this ruling, Congress has undertaken the task of passing legislation clarifying the procedures under which terrorist combatants are prosecuted and setting clear guidance on the treatment these individuals receive while they are in U.S. custody. By setting clear standards, this legislation will protect U.S. personnel from prosecution for war crimes based on vague and conflicting international interpretations of our military’s requirements under the Geneva Conventions. However, the legislation does not attempt to redefine the terms of the Geneva Conventions.
As we consider these procedures, we must balance two very important American principles: security and liberty. Our country must respect the human dignity of all individuals, but we must also remember that the terrorist combatants that have been captured have been engaged, in varying degrees, in an ongoing, violent and destructive war against the United States—a war in which the terrorists do not differentiate between civilians and military personnel. Therefore, it is important that these combatants are tried in congressionally approved military commissions that afford a fair and reliable prosecution that is consistent with our nation’s character and national security interests. I believe the legislation crafted by the Senate, which has been carefully negotiated between the White House and the Congress, will do that.
Please know that as we continue to debate critical issues in the war on terror, I will keep your concerns in mind. Again, thank you very much for sharing your opinions with me. If you have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at
http://martinez.senate.gov.Sincerely,
Mel Martinez
United States Senator
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My Reply to Email per his web site (So sorry about the length):
We are not a nation that values torture which is what the passing of this newest bill allows. It is certain now that the Republicans will be voted right out of office unless they steal them like they have in the past so far. It is a time for a change in direction for this once great nation, it will raise again as it should be now but it will not do so under those individuals who would allow us to be hated by the rest of the world because we what to torture their soldiers, their people.
I what to be pride to be an American but I see that it will never happen under the Republicans. I am sick of the black eye your party has given us as a nation and as a public citizen. Torture is not humane and can never be accepted by us as a people, as a nation of human beings. This law will not protect anyone in your party from haven broken on laws on war crimes because soon your party will be out of power on election day. We will then return to our rightful ways, our basic principles, the value system which made us a people to be envied in the eyes of the world, our neighbors whom we must learn to live with once again but for now we are simply left hanging our heads low in shame and in despair.
I hope one day you are humane enough to hang your head as well.......I am very, very sorry for the direction your party, the Republicans, have taken our nation but I will never share it, that direction, with you and I thank God for the strength I have to say that to you.
Will I be your next terrorist simply because you just say so, because you do not like this email that I dare to send to you even though all I am is one regular person, a small time idiot who dares to disagree with you so you will think. Will I be the next person you torture because I dare to not agree with you, will I be the next to be water boarded by you or your party, will I be the next one you put into a torture prison? You and your party may take my pride of being an American from me but you can not make me believe on the torture of any individual in this world ever, terrorist or not. It is a evil action to take or to have ever begun in this war and it has/will put our soldiers in the line to be tortured next. It could be your son, your daughter that is place into this position, their body tored apart in the name of information. Just stand and think about that for a moment if you dare.
You believe I should trust you or believe in you or your party. I do not and never will thanks to your party actions and lies concerning the war and its torturing of other individuals. The way they accept that our children could be torture but oh well. This Presidents lies about the war, he has made us less safe in the world then we were before 9/11 then his adminstration tries to pin it on or blame a past President, now it is ok to torture people.
How much lower can this nation go? It is all really getting sicken and extremely sad for Americans these days but continue your party line if you so desire. I am hopeful that your party will lose the elections of 2006 and their seats come this November, of course unless your party members cheat once again. The Maryland primary elections are a sure sign of what is to come with the hacking of our election on machines don't you think. But perhaps that is the problem, you and your party do not believe an average American can think for themselves or perhaps we are not suppose to believe we still have the right to do so.
Maryland showed us just how sad the Republican party is, really are and to what extreme they will reach to be in office so that they can take more from us, the citizens for whom they are to serve. That is the one of the worst facts of all, your party has forgotten that they are elected (stolen probably) to serve us, all of us, not just the few they choose to serve.
I was born an American but your party’s actions of the last few years have made me deeply ashamed of that fact. Yet, your party continues to turn a blind eye to what the average everyday citizen wants, believes in, a fair playing field for all human beings. We believe in the ideal of “their day in court” or “innocent until proven guilty”, they define us, they say who we are as a people, as a nation. As I dare to quote one great man from the past, “I have a dream”, that we elect representatives who are worthy of us, worthy of service in office, worthy of the oaths they take to serve this nation's citizens, worthy of their own humanity and then remember how to use it.
Good-Day Senator
I hope he does not come & take me to their torture prison camp. Sad to say it.
:(
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