BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org
PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:Indybay-38543
SEQUENCE:38543
CREATED:20040512T012200Z
DESCRIPTION:Bay Area Religious and Human Rights Groups Call for Rumsfeld's Resignation: 
 New national campaign and website http://www.FireRumsfeld.org  Masjid Dar 
 El-Salam Mosque, 20 Jones St, San Francisco Wednesday, May 12, 11 a.m.  
 Rayan El-Amine, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee; Medea 
 Benjamin, Global Exchange; Samina Faheem, American Muslim Voice; Souleiman 
 Ghali, Islamic Society of San Francisco; Rabbi Michael Lerner, Beyt Tikkun 
 Synagogue; Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights  As leaders in the 
 Bay Area religious and human rights community, we are outraged at the 
 torture and extreme humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, at the  egregious 
 violations of due process in US-run prisons from Guantanamo to Afghanistan 
 to Iraq and the larger culture of illegal behavior that is  manifested by 
 torture, indefinite detentions, collective punishment, the indiscriminate 
 use of force, and the premise of guilty until proven  innocent.  This 
 culture of illegal behavior has been set at the highest level, and 
 responsibility needs to be taken at the highest level. That is why we are 
 coming together to call for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald 
 Rumsfeld.  "The soldiers who abused the Iraqi prisoners must be punished. 
 But it is not enough to only castigate those low level soldiers, many of 
 them reservists,  who physically committed the abuses," says Samina Faheem 
 of American Muslim Voice. "In order to demonstrate to the world that the 
 American people will not tolerate torture, accountability must reach all 
 the way up the chain of command."  "The fundamental Biblical injunction to 
 treat every human being as though s/he was an embodiment of the Image of 
 God is being systematically violated  in our military prisons in Iraq and 
 Guantanamo,” says Rabbi Lerner. “Jews, who have too often been the 
 victims of torture throughout our history,  are  particularly outraged that 
 these practices continue in Iraq and are funded by our tax dollars.”     
 "It is Donald Rumsfeld’s responsibility to guarantee that the U.S. is 
 abiding by the Geneva Conventions, and he has utterly failed to do so," 
 says Medea Benjamin of the human rights group Global Exchange. "Apologies, 
 although necessary, will fall flat if the international community does not  
 see that those at the highest rank are held responsible."  “With 
 responsibility comes accountability,” says Souleiman Ghali, president of 
 the Islamic Society of San Francisco. “It is time for Mr. Rumsfeld to put 
  the interests of America before his personal interests, and resign.”  
 The bay area groups are calling on members of the religious and human 
 rights community around the country to join the call, and have launched a 
 new  website, http://www.FireRumseld.org.  ###       \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/05/11/38543.php
SUMMARY:Rumsfeld's Resignation Press Conference
LOCATION:Masjid Dar El-Salam Mosque,   20 Jones St, San Francisco  
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/05/11/38543.php
DTSTART:20040512T180000Z
DTEND:20040512T190000Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR