TO: Condoleezza Rice
       U.S. Secretary of State

Dear Madam Secretary:

Torture.  Government kidnapping.  Indefinite detention. 

These are not ideas we associate with the United States of America.  They do not represent who we are as Americans.  By promoting and condoning these practices in our military and intelligence forces, your administration has broken faith with the American values of freedom and fairness.

Last week marked two years since the world first saw the terrible images from Abu Ghraib prison. As human rights experts from around the world gather in Geneva to condemn torture, the U.S. must stand by its own time-honored principles.

Widespread evidence, including over 100,000 government documents released to the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act, shows a systemic pattern of torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody.

These acts go against our most cherished American ideals.  When our leaders promote torture and fail to hold themselves accountable for illegal abuses, they no longer speak for me or for the America in which I believe.

We demand our country back.

To restore humanity, to defend the rule of law and to end one of the saddest chapters in American history, our government must: