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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Amnesty Who? |
| 2005-06-01 |
| I spent the day reading all the various statements from Cheney, Scott McClellan, President Bush and General Myers regarding the recent human rights report from Amnesty International. I would like to start first by listing a few of the quotes from the above mentioned individuals. 1. President Bush: "I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and it's absurd. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world." (White House Press Conference May 31, 2005) "It seemed like (Amnesty) based some of their decisions on the word and allegations by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people had been trained in some instances to disassemble-that means not tell the truth, and so it was an absurd report. It just is" (White House Press Conference May 31, 2005) 2. Scott McClellan-White House Press Secretary: "I think the allegations are ridiculous and unsupported by the facts. The United States is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity." (White House Press Briefing May 25, 2005) 3. Vice President Dick Cheney: "Frankly, I was offended by it, for Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously." (Interview on Larry King May 30, 2005) "Occasionally there are allegations of mistreatment, but if you trace those back, in nearly every case, it turns out to come from somebody who had been inside and released to their home country and now are peddling lies about how they were treated." (Interview Larry King May 30, 2005) 4. General Richard Myers: "I think it's irresponsible. I think it's absolutely irresponsible. If you look back at the policy of this government, what we said we treat people-the president said, and we've all said-humanely and where military necessity permits, and in accordance with the Geneva Convention, we're doing that. (Gen. Myers Fox News Sunday May 29, 2005) "I mean, these are the people that took four airplanes and drove them into three buildings on September 11th. They're the same folks with the same mentality." (Gen. Myers Fox News Sunday May 29, 20005) There is a good article on thinkprogress.org with quotes from Donald Rumsfeld prior to the invasion of Iraq. Clearly the United States took the word of Amnesty International very seriously when their facts supported our rush to war in Iraq, but now that they are critical of the U.S. they are no longer a credible organization. How many more organizations does this administration have to ignore or try to discredit before people actually stop and think maybe its not everyone else, maybe just maybe it is this administration that is the biggest threat to human rights. |
| Posted by:Thaiper Phavigum7315 |
| #6 Should not this be in the 'Opinion' section? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-06-01 22:55 |
| #5 Figure the odds of Stalin stripping Chechens of their guns and turning them over to the GULAG. I imagine that you could find a hellhole within a hundred miles of GITMO wherein resides criminals guilty of the crime of journalism serving 20 year sentences. Look elsewhere for the GULAG of our times. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-06-01 21:26 |
| #4 AI played a valuable role - til late 90's when it was overrun by leftist greenies enamored of stalinist societies and critical of free societies....sad. No credibility. It's like being criticized for human rights by the Saudis |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-01 21:10 |
| #3 If I may, let me quote from Natan Sharansky, former Soviet dissident and member of Israel's cabinet until last month, regarding Amnesty International: I have very serious criticisms of Amnesty. There is no moral clarity. It doesn't differentiate between what I call fear societies and free societies. In the democratic world, there are violations of human rights, but they are revealed and dealt with. In a fear society, there are no violations of human rights because human rights just don't exist. All citizens are deprived of those rights. Amnesty International says it doesn't support or oppose any political system, so it ends up with reports that show a moral equivalence between, for example, Israel and the terrorist regimes that attack it.....Amnesty doesn't examine Hamas, only Israel. It ignores violations by terrorist organizations. We find the unfortunate situation that somehow there's no difference between terrorists targeting civilians and democratic countries targeting terrorists.....Human-rights organizations create an atmosphere in which dictatorial regimes dictate the human-rights agenda of the world. (Time Magazine, page 8, June 6, 2005 issue) BTW....in case you don't know who he is, he has actually been in a gulag, and knows the difference between Gitmo and one of the old Soviet prisons intimately. Better than you or I would. He is critical of Abu Ghraib & Gitmo, but unlike Amnesty, Mr Sharansky doesn't have his head firmly planted up his ass. It's truly sad what has become of Amnesty. I was a member for a while (until some sexist pig running the mailing list decided I was a guy and refused to address letters to me without using "Mr"), and was once proud of it. Now every time I hear it mentioned, I wanna puke. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-06-01 21:01 |
| #2 Hey, genius. PIMF... And don't use single quotes for URLs. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-06-01 20:27 |
| #1 yawn. True believer of the left continue to march blindly over the bones of the the world's most desperate. Flushing a koran - or starved tortured and mutilated. A word of wisdom to the self-righteous don't slip in their blood as you blindly march forward. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-06-01 20:20 |