Let the Light In

Nobel Winners to Obama: Admit Torture

12 Peace Prize laureates ask U.S. for full disclosure.

A dozen winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are urging President Obama to make “full disclosure to the American people of the extent and use of torture” by the United States, including the release of a long-delayed Senate report about the CIA’s harsh treatment of terrorism suspects after the 9/11 attacks. The laureates told Obama, himself a Peace Prize winner, that the report’s prospective release has brought the U.S. to a “crossroads” and that he must do more to bring closure to an era when America set an example that “will be used to justify the use of torture by regimes around the world.” The joint letter was organized by laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, and is part of a broader online petition campaign at TheCommunity.com. The appeal comes as the White House wrestles with how much of the 480-page executive summary of the report should be declassified.