National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Opinion: IT'S TIME FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLEGED MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION ON U.S.-HELD DETAINEES

09/27/2010 - Over the past several years, the American people have been confronted with mounting evidence of the use of torture by the previous U.S. administration. People of good will, across the nation and across political lines, have been deeply troubled by each new revelation. As faith leaders, we have felt keenly the need to add our voices to the many calling for a Commission of Inquiry that would investigate U.S. torture practices since 9/11.

A recent discovery of new horrors has only sharpened that sense of responsibility.

Earlier this summer, a report released by Physicians for Human Rights brought to light new evidence, not just of the use of torture, but of medical experimentation intended to make that torture more efficient. Unfortunately, both the Department of Health and Human Services and the CIA have refused to look into PHR's findings on their own, so we have joined with religious institutions and people of faith from a broad range of American faith communities in calling on our elected officials for congressional investigations of the allegations. Through the leadership of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, 20 national faith groups have asked for a governmental investigation of this report.

In the most comprehensive investigation to date of health care professionals' involvement in the CIA's "enhanced interrogation program," PHR found evidence that the Bush administration conducted human experimentation and research on detainees in U.S. custody, apparently to provide legal cover for torture, and to improve the effectiveness of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques. {read rest}

National Religious Campaign Against Torture