Letter urges UM Women to fight torture

United Methodist News Service
NEW YORK—In a May 10 letter to United Methodist Women, the president and chief executive of the group’s administrative arm are urging members to oppose torture by any government.
Kyung Za Yim and Jan Love are asking UMW members and others in the denomination to act by:
> Educating themselves further on the torture issue.
> Contacting the Council of Bishops and requesting that it take a stand.
> Writing letters to editors and politicians.
Yim is president of the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries. Love is chief executive.
The United Methodist Social Principles say that “mistreatment or torture of persons by governments for any purpose violates Christian teaching and must be condemned and/or opposed by Christians and churches wherever and whenever it occurs.”
The denomination’s top policy-making assembly, the General Conference, approved a resolution last year supporting calls for a full investigation of abuses of Iraqi prisoners. General Conference also urged adherence to the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.
The letter says that the U.S. government is allowing torture under the guise of national security and the war on terror.
Reputable organizations, such as the International Red Cross and Human Rights Watch, have reported such incidents at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Afghanistan and at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the two United Methodist leaders said.
In other cases, the United States is sending prisoners to countries where torture is often used as part of interrogation—Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan.
“We believe President Bush’s public statement—that torture is wrong—is commendable,” the letter says. “Yet, according to reports from human rights groups, the practice continues.
“We hope President Bush will uphold the constitutional principles prohibiting ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ and ensure that all decision makers, civilian and military—not just those in the lowest ranks—are held accountable.” 
The statement comes on the heels of a second U.S. Army reservist being convicted for involvement in prison abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.
The two Women’s Division leaders said they didn’t want citizens to be numbed by the abuses, which a recent survey suggests is happening.
A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll in May 2004 suggested that 54 percent of the public were bothered a “great deal” by the acts of torture.  The number had dropped to 39 percent in May 2005. Nineteen percent said the acts don’t bother them at all.
“Violence begets violence,” Yim and Love write. “When we abandon basic principles of international law prohibiting torture, we sink into barbarism, which puts soldiers, military personnel, and civilians of all nations at risk for the same treatment.”
The letter praises soldiers like Spc. Matthew Carl Wisdom, son of the Rev. Dick and Cheryl Wisdom of Christ UMC, Rockford, Ill., and Sgt. Joseph Darby for their bravery in exposing torture at Abu Ghraib.
The letter notes that the soldiers have publicly anguished over what happens to decent military personnel when the command and control system allows torture and abuse.