Anti-torture event denounces Bush administration's policies

Newly elected State Assemblyman Bill Monning expressed optimism Saturday that President-elect Barack Obama will honor his stated commitment to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. And, Monning is hopeful Obama will enforce the domestic and international laws that he said have been ignored by the Bush-Cheney administration.

Monning, who will be sworn in on Dec. 1 to represent California's 27th District, spoke to a small crowd assembled beneath a blue and white tent that was set up on a patch of land between Lighthouse Avenue and the Pvt. Bolio gate of the Defense Language Institute.

The three-day event, billed as an anti-torture teach-in and vigil, continues today, beginning with a community breakfast at 8 a.m., and featuring speakers throughout the day. The complete schedule can be viewed online at www.peacemonterey.org.

Monning, a lawyer and a professor at the Monterey Institute for International Studies, said the current White House administration trampled on the United States Constitution and ignored international law in a multitude of ways, with Guantanamo being a glaring example.

"As this encampment maintains its vigil today in opposition of torture, it's important to remember all the lives that have been broken and ruined, and the violation of U.S. and international law that has precipitated the use of torture," he said. "If an international treaty is ratified by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, it becomes domestic law. It becomes enforceable in our state and federal courts. The violations of the Bush-Cheney administration in contravening U.S. treaty obligations has violated not only international law, but our own U.S. Constitution."

Monning specifically cited the Bush administration's passage of the Military Commissions Act, which enabled the U.S. military to incarcerate more than 775 mostly-Muslim prisoners without charges and without representation.

Of those being held, Monning said three have committed suicide, 24 have died from injuries received from torture, 40 have attempted suicide, and 128 were forcibly fed while trying to fast in protest of conditions at the prison.

~ more... ~