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Amnesty International’s Human Rights Report Hits USA
Amnesty International’s annual report took on most of the baddies in the world. Darfur, Chechnya, Nepal and Zimbabwe all got mentioned in rather nasty terms. What the White House didn’t want to hear was the part about America’s short-comings in human rights. Irene Khan, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, called America’s detention center at Guantanamo Bay “the gulag of our time.” She’s right.
After all, why are the 500 odd not-prisoners of war being held on an American base on the island of Cuba when there are so many other places in the US to keep them? Quite simply, Fidel Castro’s Cuba has no relations with the US, unlike other places where US forces operate. Consequently, no one has legal standing to complain. If the same conditions existed in at a US base in Florida, Britain, or Japan, the civil rights lawyers would have had the place shut down years ago.
However, the “fer us or agin’ us” attitude of the Bush administration has made it too easy for America to shirk its responsibilities with effects felt far outside America’s borders. As Ms. Khan wrote (using British spellings) in the report:
The USA, as the unrivalled political, military and economic hyper-power, sets the tone for governmental behaviour worldwide. When the most powerful country in the world thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights, it grants a licence to others to commit abuse with impunity and audacity. From Israel to Uzbekistan, Egypt to Nepal, governments have openly defied human rights and international humanitarian law in the name of national security and “counter-terrorism”.
Bush administration mouthpiece Scott McClellan denied this saying, "The United States is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity. We have liberated 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have worked to advance freedom and democracy in the world." Even if one accepts the truth of his statement, it is ridiculous to say that Guantanamo is anything about which any American can be proud. Add in the thousands Amnesty says are held in Iraq and Afghanistan during US security operations without access to legal council, Abu Ghraib, and “aggressive” interrogation techniques, and it’s hard to see a white hat on anybody at the White House. Many Americans claim that their nation is far superior in respect for human rights than places like Iran, North Korea and Uzbekistan. That isn't much competition. Real American patriots only judge their country's behavior against it own ideals.
While Amnesty also took America to task over 40 police uses of tasers that caused death, and the large number of death penalties in the country, nowhere could one find a condemnation of the Patriot Act. Not even Amnesty International is perfect.
© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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