Telling the President to Appoint A Commission of Inquiry: Reports on the June 11 meeting from RHR-NA and NRCAT

Click here to read NRCAT's report of the event.

On June 11, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to be part of an interfaith public witness calling on President Obama to create a Commission of Inquiry to investigate American interrogation policy since 9/11. The witness, which took place first in Lafayette Park and then in front of the White House, drew hundreds of people of faith speaking out against torture. It was inspiring to see the religious diversity found in those present, spanning the entire spectrum of religion in America today. Whatever our religious background, we all believe in the sanctity and dignity of human life, and of our obligation as human beings to always remember that sanctity when we encounter another, even our enemy. Many of the speakers spoke about the innocent lives who had been swept up in the war on terror. Still others spoke about the need to have accountability for what we have done as a nation, both to the innocent and to our enemies, before we can truly move forward on this issue. 

As part of his remarks, Rabbi Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, reiterated the following key points:

“Jewish tradition seems clear. The rabbis, whose notions of humanity and its dignity reflect the Jewish views of how we must treat each other in the world, state time and again that each human and his or her life is sacred. The idea of using torture to gain an advantage over another seems far from their world view. The Mishna, an early rabbinic law code, states: “Thus, the human was created only as one individual, to teach us that anyone who destroys one soul is considered as if that person had destroyed the entire world.” The Talmudic sage Ben Azzai said in response to the degradation of a human being, “Know who you are demeaning; god made ‘human beings’ in god’s own image.” One should not torture someone created in the image of his or her god.”

After the public witness, more than 30 of us continued to the one of the Executive Office buildings for a meeting with eight senior White House staff. This meeting was key: while we have applauded the President for his January Executive Order, he continues to resist calls for a Commission of Inquiry. Read more about this in the June 22 New Yorker. We were grateful for how many staff took the time to meet with us, which I think demonstrates the seriousness with which the Administration takes our concern.

The officials we met with were definitely open to our concerns but raised a number of objections to the establishment of the the Commission, both political and logistical. This is clearly something on which we disagree with the President, though they seem open to future meetings. I would characterize the meeting as a good start, but nothing more. While collectively in the room, we presented more than 100 million Americans of faith, we still have critical opinions to change.

After the meeting was over, I had the chance to speak with Paul Monteiro, religious liaison in the White House Office of Public Liaison. I reiterated for him the ethical challenge we find ourselves in. I told him how many younger Americans (and not just younger Americans) look up to the President for moral guidance and leadership. And yet it is precisely this generation who is coming to see torture as an effective technique, and who certainly do not understand our moral objections to torture under any circumstances. Indeed, I told him, I felt that the moral arguments that Americans did not engage in torture and did not let their enemies be their moral compass has been largely lost. President Obama, by making public what happened since 9/11, has the ability to help us regain that moral high ground by doing teshuvah and fully acknowledging what we did. We cannot move forward until we understand the past. Hopefully, my comments were passed along.

We have much work ahead of us.