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<font size=3><br>
</font><font size=2>(Please be sure to read on to invitation)<br>
<br>
<br>
</font><font size=3>The seamless web of state-sponsored torture is
powerfully illustrated by this historical example: a technique of
torture is used to coerce or terrorize "foreign enemies," then
migrates into the backroom torture areas of police stations in American
towns and cities. Our effort to hold Boeing to account for serving
as "travel agent for torture" clearly has implications for the
struggle to stop police abuse in Chicago! - Bob
Clarke<br>
</font><font size=2> <br>
Excerpts from Wikipedia article on waterboarding:
(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding">
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding</a>):<br><br>
<br>
</font><h3><font size=3><b>After the Spanish-American War of
1898<br><br>
After the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_American_War">Spanish
American War</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898">1898</a>
in the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines">Philippines</a>, the
US Army used waterboarding which was called the “water cure” or “Chinese
water torture.” at the time. Major Edwin Glenn was court martialed and
sentenced to 10 years
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_labour">hard labour</a> for
waterboarding a suspected insurgent.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-9">[28]</a>
</sup> President
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt">Theodore
Roosevelt</a> ordered the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court-martial">court-martial</a> of
the American General on the island of
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samar">Samar</a> for allowing his
troops to waterboard, when the court-martial found only that he had acted
with excessive zeal Roosevelt disregarded the verdict and had the General
dismissed from the
Army.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-10">
[29]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-11">
[30</a><br><br>
<br>
</sup>Use by law enforcement</b></font></h3><font size=3><b>The use of
"third degree interrogation" techniques in order to compel
confession, ranging from "psychological duress such as prolonged
confinement to extreme violence and torture", was widespread in
early American policing. Lassiter classified the water cure as
"orchestrated physical abuse", and described the police
technique as a "modern day variation of the method of water torture
that was popular during the Middle Ages." The technique employed by
the police involved either holding the head in water until almost
drowning, or laying on the back and forcing water into the mouth or
nostrils.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-16">
<sup>[45]</a>:47</sup> Such techniques were classified as "'covert'
third degree torture" since they left no signs of physical abuse,
and became popular after 1910 when the direct application of physical
violence in order to force a confession became a media issue and some
courts began to deny obviously compelled
confessions.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-leo">
<sup>[46]</a>:42</sup> The publication of this information in 1931 as
part of the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickersham_Commission">Wickersham
Commission</a>'s "Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement" led
to a decline in the use of third degree police interrogation techniques
in the 1930s and
1940s.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-leo"><sup>
[46]</a>:38<br><br>
</sup>In 1983 Texas sheriff James Parker and three of his deputies were
convicted for conspiring to force confessions. The complaint said they
"subject prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal in order to
coerce confessions. This generally included the placement of a towel over
the nose and mouth of the prisoner and the pouring of water in the towel
until the prisoner began to move, jerk, or otherwise indicate that he was
suffocating and/or
drowning."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-wp">
<sup>[47]</a></sup> The sheriff was sentenced to ten years in prison, and
the deputies to four
years.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-wp"><sup>
[47]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-npr">
[48]</a><br>
</sup></b></font><font size=2> <br>
</font><font size=3> <b>The Coalition to Ground Boeing Torture
Flights</b> is contacting you as someone who is interested in stopping
torture. We need your help in fighting a <b>situation right here in
our own backyard, where Boeing Company has its world headquarters.<br>
</b> <br>
The Coalition to Ground Boeing Torture Flights began in order to bring
light to corporate complicity with the U.S. Government’s use of
extraordinary rendition to torture prisoners into confessions or
revealing information. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Jeppesen
Dataplan, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing Company. The
lawsuit alleges that Jeppeson knowingly provided direct flight services
to the CIA that enabled the clandestine transportation of five persons of
Arab or Persian descent to secret overseas locations where they were
subjected to torture. These services included flight plans, fueling
arrangements, even hotel bookings for those delivering victims into the
hands of torturers. (See Stephen Grey's book, <u>Ghost</u>
<u>Plane</u>.)<br>
<br>
Although a federal judge in February dismissed the the lawsuit in
deference to the CIA's claim of “state secrets,” ACLU is appealing;
and we want to continue to challenge Boeing to state publicly that they
will never be involved in such activities again, that never again will
they profit from torture. With the lawsuit dismissed, <b>our action
is the only one remaining to call Boeing to account publicly for its
complicity in torture.<br>
</b> <br>
On <b>Saturday, March 29, 2008</b> there will be a meeting to plan a
yearlong campaign to end Boeing’s involvement in extraordinary rendition.
The meeting will be held at the <b>Hull House Museum, 800 S. Halsted St.,
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Parking
available.<br>
</b> <br>
This will be a <b>one-time only intensive planning session</b> to:<br>
-agree on the goals of the campaign<br>
-determine the steps of our action plan<br>
-set a time line<br>
-ask participants to take on components of the action plan, depending on
their expertise.<br>
<br>
<b>We plan to launch the yearlong campaign with a public action at
Boeing's April 28 annual shareholders’ meeting to be held at the Field
Museum.</b> <br>
</font><font size=2> <br>
</font><font size=3>To be successful, we need to broaden our membership.
Those involved so far have been Christina Abraham from CAIR (Council on
American-Islamic Relations/Illinois), Sr. Dorothy Pagosa from
8<sup>th</sup> Day Center, Bob Clarke and Anna Perlberg from Chicago
Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, Brad Thomson from Kick Boeing to
the Curb. We have been working with the advice and support of Dick
Simpson of the University of Illinois. <br>
<br>
If you have any questions, please contact Dorothy Pagosa at 773-203-4746
or Bob Clarke at 312-939-0675. <b>Please RSVP to
Shango1@aol.com<br><br>
<br>
</b></font><font size=2>For information on the Boeing involvement in
these torture flights, see our blog:<br>
<br>
<b>groundtortureflights.wordpress.com<br><br>
<br>
</b></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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