Senator Bill Nelson's response to my e-mail regarding Abu Ghraib.

[playahata1]

I did not expect my esteemed junior Senator from Florida to even respond. (note, anything not boldfaced is me)

Dear Dr. xxxxx:

Thank you for contacting me regarding photographs of abuse of
Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These photos are horrific, and they make our work to establish a stable Iraq more difficult.

I do disagree with him concerning "our work to establish a stable Iraq"; ONLY Iraqis can determine their nation's future, not the U.S. or any puppet regime it tries to install.

I am deeply troubled by the actions of these soldiers and the
apparent failures of leadership that allowed them to occur. We must
work diligently to see justice is served and reduce the risk implications for our troops in Iraq and around the world. The Senate Armed Services Committee, of which I am a member, has already begun to hold hearings and intends to hold many more to determine exactly what happened in that prison and to prevent this from happening ever again.

The responsibility for this situation goes far beyond the seven enlisted soldiers currently facing courts-martial. I will continue working to ensure that individuals in the chain of command also are held responsible for their lack of leadership and appropriate oversight.

I appreciate your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to
contact me in the future

[soup]

1. You got a response from Nelson

and it wasn't just an auto-responder?!?!?

:jaw drop:

Can't begin to count the number of times I've written. On the other hand, can count the number of actual responses I've received - Zero, Zip, Zilch.

on edit: One the other hand-? geesh. On the other hand-

[MUSTANG_2004]

5. I got a response from Graham once

When I sent him a letter that I would not be voting for him again after he voted for the first Gulf War. I got an illegible mimeographed letter that explained the reason for his vote. It looked like the 10th copy of a 10th copy, almost completely unreadable. Apart from that, I've never heard back from a Senator.

OTOH, Representatives seem to always respond with real letters.

[playahata1]

8. I have also written Graham about this issue.

I have heard nothing from him so far. Not even an auto-reply.

[KoKo]

2. Sounds like he's assuring you they know this goes up the chain of command

so thanks for posting this. They are usually very careful what they say to their constituents but this sounds pretty forceful.

[AlphaNR]

3. A high school intern probably wrote that.

[playahata1]

4. Would high school students actually work for a U.S. Senator?

A college student, maybe, but not some 16-year-old kid.

[AlphaNR]

6. You'd be amazed.

I knew someone who worked for a congressman before his senior year of high school. A lot of his work consisted of writing back to constituents.

[madfloridian]

7. I called his office in April 2003 about the naked Iraqis at gunpoint.

He knew, because I sent links to Amnesty Intl, and I kept the aide on the phone until they verified receipt.

There were the pictures of our soldiers marching naked Iraqis through the town at gunpoint.

He knew, Graham knew, and John Warner knew.....I called their offices as did many others here. I believe the exact date was April 28, 2003. NOT 2004....2003.

[playahata1]

9. If they know, how come they ain't sayin' nothin'?

Pardon my grammar, but SOMEBODY needs to come clean here. Isn't Graham coming out with a tell-all book soon?

[cthrumatrix]

10. good point.......

[madfloridian]

12. I posted a thread not long ago....begged for people to speak out.

It dropped pretty quickly. There is at least on thread archived here, and I can not find it. Many of those who said they called then to John Warner and their own reps, are long-time posters here.

It is up to them to speak up as I can not find it in the archives. I have used every search term, including the name of the norwegian paper which had the pics.

I called the offices of all three about a month ago and reminded them...I got no response. It was the day John Warner was sounding so damn righteous as chair of the investigation...so called that is.

[KoKo]

13. Lots of folks read the thread and do call or fax. But, they don't reply

to the thread. That's why it's important to keep those threads kicked.

I read your post and called, but didn't reply on the thread. So, you probably picked up quite a few folks who did it but just didn't have time or feel a need to reply.

[Not Me]

11. I write to Graham and Nelson frequently, and nearly always get a reply...

I have memberships in a couple organizations (moveon.org, hrc.org) that regularly send out Congressional alerts. They make it easy to send a personalized email to your congressman and senator(s). Graham and Nelson almost always send a context specific, if not individual reply to me. I am "represented" in Congress by Ric Keller(R). He rarely even acknowledges receiving my letters.