The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C.  20510

Dear Majority Leader Reid and Republican Leader McConnell:

We are writing to encourage you to establish a Select Committee to investigate the activities of the agencies of the United States government with respect to the interrogation and treatment in detention of detainees held in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons overseas. 

Since the disclosure in the spring of 2004 of the graphic pictures of the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, the public has witnessed a growing body of reports that the United States has intentionally engaged in widespread abuse of prisoners, in certain cases amounting to torture.  These acts appear to violate U.S. and international law.  One limited but uncontroverted example is the CIA's use of waterboarding on at least three terrorist suspects.  Despite claims by the Administration to the contrary, U.S. history and the international community have long held waterboarding to be torture. 

While there have been several reports by different components of the Department of Defense, several individual Congressional hearings, and some ongoing investigations within the Department of Justice, the information available to the public is fractured and incomplete.  Many key documents have not been made available to Congress; individuals directly involved in developing the interrogation policy and techniques and those actually carrying out the program have not been interviewed or publicly testified.  The full picture of what has taken place is missing.  Yet a complete and trustworthy account of what happened is crucial not only to understanding our own history but also for accountability and our standing in the world.  A Select Committee, we believe, is the appropriate and best approach to achieving this full account because it has the power to subpoena critical witnesses and documents and to hold hearings, and because, unlike other committees of Congress that must address multiple matters, a Select Committee will have one focus -- the interrogation and treatment in detention of detainees held in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons overseas -- and a staff dedicated to that one issue. 

The need for such a committee has been made more urgent by the recent revelations from ABC News of regular meetings on the use of harsh interrogation techniques held by the President's top national security advisers and the President's acknowledgement that he knew and approved of these meetings.  The American people and the world are watching to see how the United States addresses what may be violations of federal and international law.  If the United States government has committed torture, then the United States needs to acknowledge that fact; identify how it happened, why it happened and who did it; apologize to the world community for these actions; and take the steps necessary to make sure it never happens again.  If the United States government didn't use torture, then the American people and the world need to know that.  It is untenable to allow such a critically important matter to remain unresolved. 

We are a coalition of organizations that seek to end torture without exception.  The only way the United States can turn the page on the shameful chapter of the past six years is to expose what the government did, hold everyone involved accountable, and make sure it never happens again.  We believe that a Select Committee of Congress is one of our best means to achieve these vital goals.  We hope you agree.

Sincerely,

Linda Gustitus, President
National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Rev. Richard L. Killmer, Executive Director
National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Rev. Dr. David P. Gushee, President
Evangelicals for Human Rights

John Bradshaw, Washington Director
Physicians for Human Rights

Elisa Massimino, Washington Director
Human Rights First

Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office
American Civil Liberties Union

Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director
Human Rights Watch

Morton H. Halperin, Executive Director
Open Society Policy Center

Rabbi Brian Walt, Executive Director
Rabbis for Human Rights