Why I wore an orange jumpsuit in Congress

[Sapphire Blue]

Why I wore an orange jumpsuit in Congress
by Kathy Ogle
SojoMail 3-15-2006

Wearing orange jumpsuits, 14 people walked the halls of all the congressional office buildings. Across their mouths were black strip of cloths with the word torture emblazoned on them. Each walked slowly down the middle of one of the House or Senate office building halls looking straight ahead and saying nothing.

I was one of them.

The Torture Abolition and Survivor's Support Coalition, an organization of torture survivors from around the world, sponsored this ghost walk on March 2. I was proud to be part of it.

The ghost walk coincided with a press conference on torture at the nearby Methodist Building. Speakers included: Kristine Huskey, an attorney representing Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo; Anthony Chukwudi, a Nigerian survivor of torture; Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a retired brigadier general of the Army Medical Corps and a member of Physicians for Human Rights; and Jennifer Harbury, the widow of a Guatemalan resistance leader believed to have been tortured and killed at the hands of a CIA asset.

Ray McGovern, who worked for the CIA for 27 years, also wore an orange jumpsuit. After his ghost walk in the Rayburn House Office Building, he returned his CIA Award medallion of honor to Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, asking him to destroy the object. McGovern said in his letter to Hoekstra. "I do not wish to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture," he said.

Continued @ http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5299

[Solly Mack]

1. Thanks for posting

[babylonsister]

2. I can think of a few candidates I'd prefer to see in orange

jumpsuits, but til that happens, this must have been a great visual and I imagine got everyone's attention!

[IndyOp]

3. Ray McGovern is a good man. Good, good man. (n/t)

:patriot:

[Disturbed]

4. Our Glorious Leader said: "We don't do torture."

He wouldn't lie to us.

[EFerrari]

5. Ray McGovern IS a good man and a role model for all progressives.

:kick:

[swwallace81]

6. How could you distinguish yourselves from the other criminals?

[EFerrari]

8. Welcome to DU, swwallace81

:hi:

[understandinglife]

7. Thank you. I've corresponded with Ray McGovern and have ...

... told him, on more than one occassion, how much his courage matters to all of us. He is a very humble person and appreciated that someone noticed his actions.


Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[Swamp Rat]

9. Ray McGovern is a true patriot and hero

:patriot:

[izzie]

10. One can see why they like to live in a bubble.

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