Torture Accountability Action Day was marked in San Francisco and Berkeley by three events: a press conference at the California State Bar Association where 130 ethics complaints against William "Jim" Haynes were filed; a "Bye Bye Byee" rally and filing a judicial misconduct complaint against Bybee with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; and an evening speaking event with Ray McGovern called “Our Himmlers, Eichmanns Unscathed as Obama Dithers: Why Is He Afraid of the Torturers?” A fourth event, the "Shame on Yoo" witness against torture at John Yoo's house in Berkeley, was on Sunday, June 28.
At 11:00 some National Lawyers Guild folks, some CodePinkers, and me for PDA delivered 130 individual ethics complaints against William "Jim" Haynes to the California Bar Association. Every single bureaucrat, guard, and clerk we encountered thanked us for what we were doing, and all eagerly accepted our ARREST TORTURE buttons, saying they couldn't wear them on duty, but would as soon as they were out of uniform.
We continue to collect complaints and encourage everyone reading to submit one and ask their lists and friends to do the same. The Bar Association MUST respond to each complaint and perhaps the sheer volume will convince them to launch an investigation of Haynes and disbar him. “This campaign is appropriate because William Haynes was one of the lawyers shaping policy that harmed so many prisoners and put all of us in greater danger,” said Carlos Villarreal, Executive Director of the NLGSF. Please go to www.nlgsf.org/committees/againsttorture.php, print the complaint, fill it out, and mail it to the National Lawyer's Guild SF address at the bottom of the complaint. Thank you.
Cynthia Papermaster reports: "We held a noontime "Bye Bye Bybee" rally at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in SF. Bybee holds a lifetime appointment as a judge of the 9th Circuit. Betsy Rose led us in singing "Bye Bye Bybee" (to the tune of Bye bye Blackbird) and "We Shall Not be Moved". We had a series of speakers representing the many groups who are working for torture accountability, and then a great group of people accompanied me inside the courthouse where I filed a formal judicial misconduct complaint against Bybee.
Rae Abileah: "It was very moving to hear speakers from Amnesty International, Veterans for Peace, and CODEPINK speak about the need to pursue justice, to preserve our Constitution, to right the wrongs of the past 8 years so that we can move forward with integrity."
Speakers included Ray McGovern, ex-CIA analyst and peace and social justice activist; Banafsheh Akhalghi, Director, Amnesty International Western District; Sharon Adams, SF National Lawyers Guild Committee Against Torture; Emily Levy, Velvet Revolution; Nancy Mancias, CODEPINK; Mary Ann Thomas, World Can't Wait; and of course, our organizer, Cynthia Papermaster, CODEPINK Golden Gate. We sold buttons and bumper stickers, got people to sign postcards to Holder, and delivered our complaint re Jay Bybee to the 9th Circuit. A woman sidled up to me and whispered that many of the attendees were federal employees who secretly supported us, but were afraid. What have we become? See video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfagyzmzWd8
At 7:30PM 120 people attended a Torture Accountability program with Ray McGovern at the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalist Church. Also speaking were Jon Eisenberg, the lawyer in the Al-Haramain (illegal wiretapping) case and Abdi Soltani, Executive Director, ACLU Northern CA. Reports on torture accountability campaigns were made by representatives from CODEPINK, Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture, World Can't Wait, PDA and the National Lawyers Guild SF Committee Against Torture. Carrie Gerendasy sang two memorable songs. Ray McGovern is Irish-Catholic, grew up in the North Bronx, went to Fordham University, Georgetown, and Harvard, and quotes Latin with an Irish-Bronx accent. He said the Congressional oversight committees had become "overlook" committees. He urged us to anger, and defended it as a virtue, saying Thomas Aquinas said "anger looks to the good of justice." A long, exhausting, very good day.
Photos from our San Francisco Bye Bye Bybee rally on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepinkalert/sets/72157620470375489/