Top students tell president: Respect human rights
It must have taken a lot of soul-searching on the part of 50 top high school students — all Presidential Scholars — to tell the president to respect American ideals. What's impressive is that all 50 signed the handwritten letter. No dissents.
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Scholars urge Bush to ban use of torture
High school seniors present president with letter during annual program
The Associated Press
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.
The students had been invited to the East Room to hear the president speak about his effort to win congressional reauthorization of his education law known as No Child Left Behind.
The handwritten letter said the students "believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions."
"We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants," the letter said.
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3 Comments:
Although this photo-op looked like a scene from the upcoming new quiz show "Who's Smarter Than The President" I do think the "torture letter" was kind of a joke. I wish the letter would have instead been a plea to ban the use of amnesty in the name of big business and Hispanic voter bribery.
protest warrior,
Reading this from the NY Times, I believe the sentiment was real.
Mari Oye from Wellesley, Mass., who is headed to Yale in the fall, handed W. the letter signed by 50 students as they posed for a group picture. She told John Roberts on CNN that her mother had been a Presidential Scholar back in 1968 and always regretted not saying something to Lyndon Johnson about the Vietnam War. She also said her grandparents were Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II, so she has compassion for those “in a similar situation.”
“We asked him to remove the signing statement attached to the anti-torture bill, which would have allowed presidential power to make exemptions to the ban on torture,” she said. “I really feel strongly about this issue and also about the treatment of some Arab- and Muslim-Americans after September 11th.”
MH, When I described the "torture letter" as "kind of a joke," I did'nt mean they were just kidding. I meant that it looked more like political posturing by 16 & 17 year olds and their teachers. Everyone knows the President has never advocated the use of torture(depending on how one defines it). Internment was an unfortunate decision, made in a different era, meant to protect both America from possible spying and the Japanese-Americans from retaliation based on Pearl Harbor as I understand it. It has very little correlation to detaining suspected terrorists in todays time. Also, the President is not responsible for how Americans treat Arab and Muslim-Americans. It's up to us as American friends, co-workers and neighbors. The "torture-letter" dynamic of the event just seemed to be about lip-service and an opportunity to criticize the President and took away from the true academic accomplishment it was intended to showcase.
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