Dear Timothy,

As an actor, I have been part of some pretty wild tales. But if you told me just a few years ago that my own country would be holding prisoners without trial in secret CIA prisons, I'd have told you that was pretty far-fetched.

If you told me that the United States would also be torturing these prisoners, I'd have said you were nuts.

When our own government engages in torture, they are doing so in my name - and yours.

That's why I have joined with Amnesty International USA to urgently demand that our leaders get out of the torture business. And it is why I strongly urge you to join me by making an emergency donation to Amnesty's Stop Torture Campaign.

June is "Torture Awareness Month." But awareness isn't enough - we must speak out, and we must end it.

Just consider:

• Barely two years have passed since the horrific images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib came to light - shocking the conscience of the world. Yet even today, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, our government claims the abuses were only a few isolated acts.
  
   
• In the wake of Abu Ghraib and other revelations, Senator John McCain introduced a bill to affirm the absolute ban on "cruel, inhumane and degrading" treatment by U.S. agents anywhere in the world. The administration fought tooth and nail to defeat the measure. When passage of the bill became inevitable, the Administration succeeded in inserting amendments that seriously undermined it.
  
   
• What is more, the President unilaterally declared himself not bound by the law, basically claiming unlimited powers to torture in alleged wartime situations.
  
   
• This past April, Amnesty released a shocking report that exposed the U.S. government's "secret airline" for outsourcing torture. It revealed an elaborate and secretive spider web of private and charter flights designed to ship detainees to countries where torture is routinely practiced - Egypt, Jordan, Syria and elsewhere.

Once upon a time, the United States led the world in advocacy of human rights and dignity for all. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted and signed on our shores. That was no accident.

Today we are part of the problem. It will take years for our nation to rebuild its credibility as a human rights advocate.

But together, we can make this the month when our nation begins in earnest to return to its mostly deeply cherished values - the rule of law, due process, and respect for individual freedom and dignity.

Please join me today in support of Amnesty International's life-saving work to stop torture.

Sincerely,
Tim Robbins

P.S. Check out my newly released video urging Americans to take action against the practice of torture worldwide: low-fi or hi-fi.