[NYTr] Young "Preisdential Scholars" Lecture Bush on Torture

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

Democracy Now via Granma Daily - 21 July, 2007
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art45.html

Presidential Scholars Tell the President ‘No’ on Torture

By AMY GOODMAN

President Bush got a lesson from a group of recent high school
graduates. They were Presidential Scholars, a program designed "to
recognize and provide leadership development experiences for some of
America’s most outstanding graduating high-school seniors."

The 141 Presidential Scholars were being honored at the White House.
One of them, Mari Oye, from Wellesley, Mass., describes what happened:
"The president walked in and gave us a short speech saying that as we
went on into our careers, it was important to treat others as we would
like to be treated. And he told us that we would have to make choices
we would be able to live with for the rest of our lives. And so, I said
to the president, ‘Several of us made a choice, and we would like you
to have this,’ and handed him the letter." It was a letter Mari had
handwritten. It read:

"As members of the Presidential Scholars class of 2007, we have been
told that we represent the best and brightest of our nation. Therefore,
we believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions. We do not
want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power
to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal
renditions and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees,
including those designated enemy combatants."

Mari described Bush’s reaction to the letter: "He read down the letter.
He got to the part about torture. He looked up, and he said, ‘America
doesn’t torture people.’ And I said, ‘If you look specifically at what
we said, we said, we ask you to cease illegal renditions. Please remove
your signing statement to the McCain anti-torture bill.’

"At that point, he just said, ‘America doesn’t torture people’ again."

In fact, after Bush signed the bill that outlawed the torture of
detainees last year, he quietly issued a "signing statement" reserving
the right to bypass the law, as he has more than 1,100 times, issuing
more signing statements than all other U.S. presidents combined.