Students Urge Bush To Stop Torture

[dgridley]

WASHINGTON - President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to "violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States.

The White House said Bush had not expected the letter but took a moment to read it and talk with a young woman who handed it to him.

"The president enjoyed a visit with the students, accepted the letter and upon reading it let the student know that the United States does not torture and that we value human rights," deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19424797/

I'll bet those students got no milk and cookies at the end of the tour But, as concerned Americans, you gotta hand it to them for taking the opportunity and initiative to voice their concerns. (I just wonder which teacher gave them extra credit for doing it! :D )

 

[ScaryManInThePark]

Hard to imagine that they'd think that first the President would claim there is torture, and then vow to stop it, to please some highschoolers. Though these things are never really about getting people to do what they ask are they?

 

[RegFee]

They are part of a presidential scholars program. They get the opportunity to meet the president. He takes time out of his busy schedule to meet them. They use that opportunity to attack him. Respectful?

 

[ScaryManInThePark]

Well, I think getting attention and stirring up controversy for no real purpose was more their goal. And hay, look at that, they did it!

 

[RegFee]

Look! We're on the NEWS!

 

[dgridley]

Well, let's assume you're a lowly serf who desperately feels a need to get a message to the king.. do you take the only opportunity to deliver that message or do you pass it up out of "respect"?

I'm not sure the students came up with the idea on their own, but I don't think it was just about getting seen on the news.

They could have written a letter to the White House but 9 times out of 10 I'll bet the President, if he sees it at all (which is doubtful), sees a condensed and possibly sanitized version.

They are part of a presidential scholars program. They get the opportunity to meet the president. He takes time out of his busy schedule to meet them. They use that opportunity to attack him. Respectful?

 

[ScaryManInThePark]

If their letter was going to make any difference in policy at all, if there is or isn't torture regardless, it would have been reasonable. But it wasn't, and they new it, people getting into a program like this aren't idiots.

 

[dgridley]

So does it take one opinion to count, or millions of the same opinion? One has to start somewhere.. and who knows? Maybe that letter got Bush to thinking and will affect policy in the future. But if they hadn't delivered it, their voice would never be heard.

I'm just wondering if their actions were sanctioned or prompted as a "class project"? Like "If you could say one thing to the President, what would it be about? And remember, spelling counts!" :lol:

If their letter was going to make any difference in policy at all, if there is or isn't torture regardless, it would have been reasonable. But it wasn't, and they new it, people getting into a program like this aren't idiots.

 

[kwan]

I agree that if everyone thought one person, one group or one letter won't make a difference we would be in bad shape. I don't see it as an attack on the president either. They were given a chance to meet and talk to him. If this is what's on their minds then why shouldn't they take the opportunity to bring it up. They might also have complimented him on other things, but that isn't newsworthy.

So does it take one opinion to count, or millions of the same opinion? One has to start somewhere.. and who knows? Maybe that letter got Bush to thinking and will affect policy in the future. But if they hadn't delivered it, their voice would never be heard.

I'm just wondering if their actions were sanctioned or prompted as a "class project"? Like "If you could say one thing to the President, what would it be about? And remember, spelling counts!" :lol:

 

[dgridley]

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,

The pen is mightier than the sword.

- Edward Bulwer-Lytton , 1839

 

[.X.]

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,

The pen is mightier than the sword.

- Edward Bulwer-Lytton , 1839

Great point, that was in 1839, If times now, where like they were back then, I would be happy as i could be, and that with out air conditioning and cable tv-lol...These kids have a lot of hurdles to jump in thier lives, this is just the beginning for them, To protest is a freedom our country allows us, Rather you disagree, or agree with what is what is going on in iraq or ect, If your country calls, you go, Or you flee to other countries or just live like scanks in a volkswagon van, with flowers all over it-LMAO, like they did in the veitnam war, Could there be a draft for the US military forces in the future? Any way, They are concerned about how GWB has handled the rights of terror suspects, Ok...Cool, Then why don't they take thier rear ends and move to iraq, OOOOOOOOO no! My personal proposal, "Quit ya bitchin people"

 

[dgridley]

It may have been 1839.. but it still holds true today, unlike, sadly, many provisions of the American constitution.. which is why those students felt compelled to bring it up to the one person who might effectively bring about some positive change. Let's hope he truly listened.

And why move to Iraq when it's here that needs changing.. that's why we elect people, why we vote, and why we have the right to question and dissent.

Maybe if we hadn't had some of those "scanks (sp) in a volkswagon (sp) van" protesting in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, we might have lost alot of freedoms alot earlier.

Peace

Great point, that was in 1839, If times now, where like they were back then, I would be happy as i could be, and that with out air conditioning and cable tv-lol...These kids have a lot of hurdles to jump in thier lives, this is just the beginning for them, To protest is a freedom our country allows us, Rather you disagree, or agree with what is what is going on in iraq or ect, If your country calls, you go, Or you flee to other countries or just live like scanks in a volkswagon van, with flowers all over it-LMAO, like they did in the veitnam war, Could there be a draft for the US military forces in the future? Any way, They are concerned about how GWB has handled the rights of terror suspects, Ok...Cool, Then why don't they take thier rear ends and move to iraq, OOOOOOOOO no! My personal proposal, "Quit ya bitchin people"

 

[Wildhoney]

I just sit here in England staring on in astonishment at the news. All the bad stories coming out of America, not that England is perfect, far from it. Whenever there's been a new incident, such as the covert wiretaps, I've thought this is the day the American people will stand up and say no more. But it never came. I don't see how 50 school children handing a message to the president is going to dissuade him when thousands of people marching didn't make any difference.

Seeing as how someone above me applied a quote to this thread, I'll apply another one.

America is the most grandiose experiment the world has seen, but, I am afraid, it is not going to be a success.

Sigmund Freud

 

[.X.]

It may have been 1839.. but it still holds true today, unlike, sadly, many provisions of the American constitution.. which is why those students felt compelled to bring it up to the one person who might effectively bring about some positive change. Let's hope he truly listened.

And why move to Iraq when it's here that needs changing.. that's why we elect people, why we vote, and why we have the right to question and dissent.

Maybe if we hadn't had some of those "scanks (sp) in a volkswagon (sp) van" protesting in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, we might have lost alot of freedoms alot earlier.

Peace

It was those scanks, that were doing acid, all the drugs they could get, having babies left and right, Useless turds imo, They could have done thier drugs in veitnam just aswell as they did here, they were pure chicken sh*ts and dodged the war, I may be wrong, but i think you are a total liberial, I mean really liberal, Which is your choice absolutely, I feel sure GWB listened very well, and also feel that he feels the pain the terrorists have brought into our country, As far as the fight on terrorism, and the way they get treated, i wouldn't expect that to change, My heart cries out every day for those people who were in the towers on 9-11 .

 

[dgridley]

Well, alot think I'm a liberal, yet I've always considered myself just the opposite. Hey, I liked Nixon, I liked Reagan, I liked George Bush Sr ... but I don't think I need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

I even hate the ACLU (but Thank God they exist!)

I may be mixing metaphors or apples and oranges but just because I love my windows doesn't mean I can't see when they're dirty.

I feel for those who died on 9/11 too.. I watched it just like every other American..

It was those scanks, that were doing acid, all the drugs they could get, having babies left and right, Useless turds imo, They could have done thier drugs in veitnam just aswell as they did here, they were pure chicken sh*ts and dodged the war, I may be wrong, but i think you are a total liberial, I mean really liberal, Which is your choice absolutely, I feel sure GWB listened very well, and also feel that he feels the pain the terrorists have brought into our country, As far as the fight on terrorism, and the way they get treated, i wouldn't expect that to change, My heart cries out every day for those people who were in the towers on 9-11 .

 

[ZuraX]

Some "people" will not be happy until OBL is ruler of the USA and the rest of the world. They dont want us to fight terrorists, they dont want us fighting them in Iraq, they want the terrorists to be in the USA blowing up schools and other things they dont like. They want the terrorists to win so women will be made to stop working, stop going to school, and whatever else the terrorists do.

God forbid someone as Brave as Bush would stand up and try to stop them...

 

[Zinc]

"The president enjoyed a visit with the students, accepted the letter and upon reading it let the student know that the United States does not torture and that we value human rights,"

He forgot to mention the Gulags located on non-US soil that suspects are transported to, countries which have an extremely poor human rights record.

 

[dgridley]

Exactly.. a fact many are apparently blinded to..


As regards Zurax's comment about OBL.. why aren't we looking for him? I suspect if we'd looked as hard for Bin Laden as we "looked" for WMD, we'd have found him. Bush has an agenda that's not about being brave IMO.

"The president enjoyed a visit with the students, accepted the letter and upon reading it let the student know that the United States does not torture and that we value human rights,"

He forgot to mention the Gulags located on non-US soil that suspects are transported to, countries which have an extremely poor human rights record.

 

[Zinc]

"As regards Zurax's comment about OBL.. why aren't we looking for him? I suspect if we'd looked as hard for Bin Laden as we "looked" for WMD, we'd have found him. Bush has an agenda that's not about being brave IMO."

It would appear the US political rhetoric has changed Dav3. It used to be "Osama bin Laden", "Terrorists", "Axis of Evil", "911" and "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

Now it's
"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad", "Extremists", "Insurgency", "Fundamentalists", "Radicals", "Ideology" and "Nuclear Proliferation"

My worry is that the Bush clan will somehow find a convienient tie-in between Al-Qaeda and Iran, which his shift in terminology seems to indicate.

 

[ZuraX]

Dont need to look, they already have the proof.
Iranian weapons, Iranian troops crossing the border...