Natural Selections - Dr. Torsten Wiesel's Letter to President Bush Regarding Guantanamo Bay

Radio Personality Ken Dashow
by Bernie Langs

Dr. Torsten Wiesel's Letter to President Bush Regarding Guantanamo Bay

December 2007

Torsten Wiesel and President George Bush

Torsten Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and President Emeritus of The Rockefeller University, was the winner of the 2005 National Medal of Science and Technology. In July 2007, Dr. Wiesel accepted the medal from President George W. Bush at a ceremony held at the White House. At the event, Dr. Wiesel handed President Bush a letter expressing concerns over the government’s treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Dr. Wiesel has been a life-long advocate of human rights, and he wishes to share his letter with the RU community.

28 July 2007

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President,

It is a great honor for me to accept the National Medal of Science, the highest award a scientist can receive from the President of the United States of America and I am deeply appreciative. However, as former Chair of the Committee of Human Rights at the National Academies of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and National Academy of Engineering (1994-2004), I must express my deep and sincere concern about your administration’s policy of not giving full recognition of the Geneva Convention and not promptly resolving the situation at Guantanamo Bay. My hope is that you will use the power of your office to restore the image of the United States as the beacon of freedom and human rights in this troubled world.

As a senior member of the scientific community and inspired by the courageous act of some of the Presidential Scholars of 2007, who have expressed similar concerns, I cannot be silent on these critical issues.

Sincerely,

Torsten Wiesel, FRS

President Emeritus of the Rockefeller University
Nobel Laureate 1981

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