The American Bar Association has called on President Bush to launch an independent investigation into "hundreds of alleged incidents of torture, even including murder, practiced against Iraqi civilians in U.S. military custody." In a letter to the President Tuesday, the lawyers' group expressed alarm at the reports, noting that the military in many instances had filed no charges against perpetrators or had taken no action at all. ABA president Robert Grey Jr. [official profile] wrote that an independent, bipartisan probe would set the record straight, concluding that "It is incumbent on our nation to preserve the rule of law as the touchstone of our government and of our national honor, both at home and in the conduct of our policy abroad. It would fulfill the mandate and the destiny that you described in your inaugural address, that of spreading democracy throughout the world. ABA letter [PDF].