Dear President Obama,
For intelligence agencies of the United States government to use organized gang stalking tactics against its own citizens is a violation of the following articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 1- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2 - Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 5 - No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 7 - All are equal before the law and are entitled without discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 10 - Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charges against him.
Article 11 - 1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12 - No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 18 - Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19 - Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20 - 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
I am writing you to urge you to adopt the suggestion put forth by Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr. before the Hearing on “Restoring the Rule of Law” by the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate on September 16, 2008 that “a bipartisan independent investigatory Commission should be established by the next Congress and President, first to determine what has gone wrong (and right) with our policies and practices in confronting terrorists since September 11, 2001, and then to recommend lasting solutions to address past mistakes and a series of specific reforms should be adopted aimed at reforming the executive branch and ensuring no repetition of recent abuses. Among the topics I touch on are the need for a clear rejection of the ‘monarchial presidency theory; improved oversight and accountability mechanisms; responses to the pathological secrecy that today characterizes executive branch operation; and coercive interrogations.”
In his testimony, Mr. Schwarz went on to say, “ A Commission would serve several vital functions. It would reveal the many as-yet-unknown aspects of what our government has done and how it evaluated or rationalized its actions. And there is much we do not know. We still do not know, for example, the legal justifications advanced for the so-called ‘extraordinary rendition’ or ‘terrorist surveillance’ programs. We do not know with sufficient detail who was responsible for advocating and implementing the troubling policies based on these legal opinions. Nor do we know whether there are other secret programs that have not yet been revealed. But, as former Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach and I have argued elsewhere, in a country whose government is premised on the rule of law, there is never a justification for keeping binding legal decisions secret.”
You promised us a more open government, President Obama. I appreciate that you are under extraordinary pressure in making foreign policy decisions and in trying to solve our economic problems – but “restoring the rule of law” cannot be put on the bottom of your list. In Senator Feingold’s “100 Day Rule of Law Report” (www.feingold.senate.gov/ruleoflaw/) in evaluating your efforts to address the recommendations made by forty organizations and experts in connection with the Senate Constitution Subcommittee hearing you get an incomplete in every area on “Domestic Surveillance and Privacy.” I’m sure as a former teacher in higher education you realize you cannot “pass” with those grades. I urge you to be fair to people such as myself (see my story at my web site – www.theintrovertspeaks.com) and to convene the Commission Mr. Schwarz recommended. There are many Progressive Democrats who are sorely disappointed in your civil liberties record. Help us to have faith in you once again. Restore the Rule of Law in America by convening a Commission on the policies and practices pursued in the War on Terror.
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