Torture Survivors Ask McCain to Renounce His Support for Torture

Former Abu Ghraib interrogator and torture survivors say torture is immoral
and ineffective

MEDIA ADVISORY for Thursday, August 7th, 11:00 a.m.

TELEPHONE PRESS CONFERENCE CALL

A former U.S. military interrogator at Abu Ghraib and a survivor of torture
will recount their experiences and ask U.S. Senator John McCain to renounce
his recent positions on torture and stand firm against the use of torture as
an interrogation technique.

As the military commissions in Guantanamo Bay demonstrate, torture is not only
immoral, but also ineffective. Evidence collected with the use of torture was
inadmissible in the prosecution of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden's
driver. Also, concerns that much of the evidence against another Guantanamo
detainee, Mohamed al Qahtani, would similarly be ruled inadmissible forced the
government to drop the case entirely.

Joshua Casteel, who served at the Abu Ghraib prison camp; Father Roy
Bourgeois, founder of School of Americas Watch, Purple Heart recipient, and
torture survivor; and USAction Program Director Alan Charney will participate
in a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday, August 7th. Call in number is
1-219-509-8111. Passcode is 36170.

"When I served in Iraq, every camera in the world was pointed at Abu Ghraib
and two things happened as a result," Casteel said. "Practices at Abu Ghraib
vastly improved, but the dark activity which previously happened there went
elsewhere. Techniques [in other prison facilities] included induced
hypothermia, smashing hands with hammers and all sorts of activities which
clearly are within the bounds of torture by any reasonable, humane standard."

The press conference comes after more than 20,000 Americans signed a petition
urging Senator McCain to renounce torture. The petition drive was sponsored by
Catholics United, School of the Americas Watch, and TrueMajority.org.
TrueMajority.org is the online project of USAction, a key member of the
coalition of groups opposing the Iraq war.

The three groups participating in Wednesday's press conference recently
distributed a video in which Casteel asks Senator McCain to appeal to his
"better angels" and recommit himself to the fight against torture.

Once, McCain was a leader in the struggle against torture by sponsoring
legislation to ban U.S. military personnel from using torture as an
interrogation tactic. This year, McCain abandoned his stand and voted against
an anti-torture amendment to the intelligence authorization bill and voted in
favor of granting interrogators retroactive immunity for past instances of
torture. There is extensive documentation of torture and abuse not only at
Abu Ghraib, but also at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility and in the secret
CIA interrogation program.

CONTACT: David Elliot of USAction, +1-202-263-4567.

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Aug. 5/

SOURCE USAction; Catholics United; School of the Americas Watch;
TrueMajority.org