Prosecute torturers.

• Author: Ortiz, Dianna
• Position: Letters to the Editor - Letter to the Editor

On behalf of the members of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), each member of which is a survivor of torture, thank you for the articles on U.S. involvement in torture in the United States and abroad ("Abu Ghraib, U.S.A," by Anne-Marie Cusac, and "America's Amnesia," by Matthew Rothschild, July issue).

The struggle against torture requires a confrontation with the impunity those who order, permit, and facilitate it grant to themselves. For this reason, TASSC has joined with the World Organization for Human Rights/USA in a "Criminal Complaint Seeking the Investigation and Prosecution of U.S. Officials Implicated in the Torture of Detainees."

Submitted to the Attorney General, it notes that the probable involvement of high-ranking Justice Department officials in "formulating or encouraging the unlawful use of torture" calls for the appointment of a special attorney to carry out the investigations and any prosecutions that may follow. Included among those cited for investigation are familiar names: Donald Rumsfeld, Stephen Cambone, George Tenet, Alberto Gonzales, Generals Ricardo Sanchez...