We came here today hoping to speak with Senator Smith or his representatives. Our 10:00 appointment with his aide was canceled but we are here anyway in the hope that he will hear our message.

We veterans took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same." Upon discharge from service, we did not renounce that oath. Senator Smith took that same oath upon assuming office.

It has become painfully clear that our Constitution is under attack and has been gravely violated by domestic enemies - indeed, by that very government we served to preserve and protect.

We are here today, first, to support and defend Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the United States Constitution, which declares our international treaties "the Supreme Law of the Land." The Bush wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, waged in our name and paid from our national treasury, are violations of all treaties establishing the international laws of war since 1928, which uniformly prohibit wars of aggression. Additional war crimes have been committed through use of prohibited weapons and torture. These define our country as a violent outlaw state, a state unworthy of any citizen's uniformed service. Only Congress can stop these atrocities by refusing to
fund the wars. We are asking Senator Smith to do so.

Secondly, we  are here to protest decreased funding for veteran care. As John Kerry said in his 1971 presentation to Senator Fulbright's Foreign Relations Committee on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, "Where is the leadership?... Where are they, now that we, the men they sent off to war, have returned? These are the commanders who have deserted their troops. And there is no more serious crime in the laws of war."

Reduction of VA funding and closure of VA facilities is desertion of our troops. We are being deserted by our leaders hiding behind the budget crises they themselves created at the expense of those they sent to face the terrible risks and horrors of war.

An elaborated version of this message has been posted on the website www.VeteransAgainstTorture.com

Sincerely,

Veterans Against Torture

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