Amnesty International Blasts US...

[Purrybonker]

I know it's pretty much a case of "preaching to the choir" or the opposite of that (whatever that is...) with the open minded audience here, but according to the people at Amnesty International in their annual report

"As a superpower, the United States has shirked its responsibility to set the bar for human rights protections and has instead created a new lexicon for abuse and torture, Amnesty Secretary-General Irene Khan said for the London-based group's annual report launch."

What is with all these people with their ridiculous, slanted, liberal-media-biased anti-US opinions?

[bryanthompson]

According to them, the US is to blame for all that is bad in the world, basically. You can pretty much sum up any lunatic fringe argument, position, or ranting with that statement.

I'm more interested in what the opposite of "preaching to the choir" would be. The opposite of choir is something like "biker gang," but what is the opposite of preach?

[gaijindabe]

“The challenge for the human rights movement is to harness the power of civil society and push governments to deliver on their human rights promises,” said Ms. Khan.

After a couple of thousand of civilians were killed on 9/11 - "civil society" in this country hopes to be protected from such acts or worse in the future.. Normal criminal law is not set up to deal with international terrorists.

Few tears are shed for members of terrorist organizations being rounded up and held. Being a member or active supporter gets you a one way ticket to Guantanimo. Tough luck.

[kach22i]

From the article:

“During the year, released detainees alleged that they had been tortured or ill-treated while in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo. Evidence also emerged that others, including Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and the International Committee of the Red Cross, had found that such abuses had been committed against detainees,” the report said.

The FBI?

The Red Cross.

Everyone knows what American hating pinko commies they are.

Pass the dubbie bro and don't hog the Kool-Aid.

[Tishabet]

Have you ever had to deal with the red cross? I'm being serious here. I think you would be very surprised.

[gaijindabe]

Human rights abuses such as these?:

The Sudanese government generated a human rights catastrophe while the international community did too little too late....

The group also pointed to Haiti, where human rights violators were allowed to regain positions of power.....

...in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there was no effective response to the systematic rape of tens of thousands of women and children..

I think not.

[kach22i]

t least 10 cases of abuse or mistreatment have been documented and investigated at Guantanamo. There are several other cases that are pending.

gaijindabe, from what I'm picking up from you is; hey we are not so bad. It's not like 100 cases, 1,000 cases, 10,000 cases, 100,000 cases, 1,000,000 cases or even 100,000,000 cases of abuse.

So if 10 cases (valid or not), is acceptable, then how many cases would get your attention?

I know anything the USA does is going to pale in comparison to what goes on in other countries, at least "on-scale". However I think the point of the argument is we (the USA) sets the "standard" and is a "role model" for others to try to be like. We give the world hope, or should try to - it's an obligation some see, even if we shy away from it.

We are like the world's parent, and from I've been reading, an angry abusive drunk parent that the neighbors are going to call the cops on.

[gaijindabe]

10 cases of abuse or mistreatment... First of all, I read this link twice and see no specifics to what was done to them. Torture for the sake of torture? Some kind of meaningless sadisitic acts? Nothing mentioned. Sorry, I missed the beheadings by Americans on TV.

and this:

"During the year, released detainees alleged that they had been tortured or ill-treated while in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo."

When there punk a$ses are let out, what in the world do you expect them to say? The Great Satan treated me O.K? Or rather, I got a cot, louse free clothes, 3 squares a day and after a few experts were done verbally working me over I cracked like an egg???

This is not the mafia we are going after, not drug dealers, not criminal bad guys. And AQ is not an army and they are not soldiers.

One phone call intercepted, one e-mail, one observed meeting. As a member of one of these groups or an active supporter - we have every right and duty to take them, find out what they know and keep them locked up. Forever.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
we have every right and duty to take them, find out what they know and keep them locked up. Forever.

No charges

No hearing

No trial

You do know that some of the people being held were "sold" to the US by the Taliban, right? They were their prisioners! We paid cash for live bodies.

Gosh, it might be easier for me, if they just looked differently than us. Then when we put them in cages we would just know why.

[911pcars]

I suppose you assumed they were all guilty because they're in jail, then it's okay to torture them. However, are they guilty or are they not? It's the US criminal system. How can they be guilty if they're not charged with a crime - suspected terrorist or not, one of "them" or one of you. Think about it.

If they interviewed people who were released, could one assume there were no charges filed against them? And because they were released, why are their assertions of conditions inside the prison automatically not true? And Amnesty International and Red Cross are anti-American organizations?

Seems like some of us took a leap of faith with a view through rose-colored glasses in a black and white world, but believe what you will.

"What is with all these people with their ridiculous, slanted, liberal-media-biased anti-US opinions?"

And where should we be sourcing the real facts? Do you think Bush, Cheney and company are being straight with the American public? I don't.

[350HP930]

Hell, there are already documented cases of people being kidnapped off the streets of foriegn countries, flown to gulags in remote regions of afghanistan, tortured for months and then when its discovered that the detention was a complete case of mistaken identity the victim is just dumped on the street of another country.

When you are disappearing people based on flimsy information and then torturing them, sometimes to death, how much worse can you get?

Right now there is not much of a difference between what our government is up to and the kind of behavior saddam used to engage in that most neocons currently use to justify our invasion of iraq.

[rcecale]

Originally posted by 350HP930
Hell, there are already documented cases of people being kidnapped off the streets of foriegn countries, flown to gulags in remote regions of afghanistan, tortured for months and then when its discovered that the detention was a complete case of mistaken identity the victim is just dumped on the street of another country.

Awww, that's nothing. I heard there was this guy one time who woke up in an ice-filled bath tub...and get this. He was missing a kidney...and there was this note...and...

Randy

[350HP930]

It appears my source of 'news' is a bit more accurate than your own.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678155.shtml

[rcecale]

CBS? Accurate?

Well, you may have a point, now that Dan Rather and crew are gone. But then again...maybe not.

Randy