Amnesty International Unhinged

[vulturesrow]

First they compare the camp at Gitmo to the Gulag, which no matter what you think about Gitmo it pales in comparison to that system. Now they this banner on their page at their news page.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/prowlerslim/ai.bmp[/image]


EDIT: Looks like they took it down...interesting. Not sure why my picture isnt working either.

EDIT2: Banner is back up. Check it out at news.amnesty.org

[JackWhite]

If only AI would be as critical of the real gulags operating on the other side of the Island run by Mr. Castro. Sure, they will criticize Castro on occasion, but Mr. Schultz seems to put so much more energy in attacking the United States. After all, Amnesty International is a totally non-partisan organization (wink, wink).

Here is a must read on this comparison between Gitmo and gulags.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/d...20050607.shtml

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So the defense for Gitmo is "Our Gulags aren't as bad as the other guy's Gulags"?

[JackWhite]

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So the defense for Gitmo is "Our Gulags aren't as bad as the other guy's Gulags"?

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Um..yes. When you compare a system that resulted in a few million deaths vs. a system where a few hundred have been held, some of those unjustly...well...you cannot compare the two. Not saying it is a defense, I am saying you don't compare a holocaust in the Soviet Union to Gitmo. Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post has a good article on this as well. She wrote a book about the gulags. She knows what a real gulag is.

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I would like to submit there should be nothing that even resembles a "good gulag" in AMERICA, or anywhere, run by AMERICIANS.

[MMMMMM]

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So the defense for Gitmo is "Our Gulags aren't as bad as the other guy's Gulags"?

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What's the defense for Amnesty International preferentially castigating the U.S. over this instead of castigating Cuba, or North Korea, or Iran--all of whom are FAR worse violators of human rights and have FAR worse prison systems, etc.? What's the defense for Amnesty International's comparing a molehill to a mountain and talking about them as if they were the same thing?

[bdk3clash]

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What's the defense for Amnesty International preferentially castigating the U.S. over this instead of castigating Cuba, or North Korea, or Iran--all of whom are FAR worse violators of human rights and have FAR worse prison systems, etc.?

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Are you just making this stuff up?

Amnesty International on Cuba

Amnesty International on North Korea

Amnesty International on Iran

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What's the defense for Amnesty International's comparing a molehill to a mountain and talking about them as if they were the same thing?

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Straw man, again.

Having actually read the Amnesty International Secretary General's message that caused all the phony "outrage" among neocons, it's clear to me that this whole issue is the typical right-wing echo chamber at work. Don't bother dealing with any of the issues brought up, just jump on something that will play well to your base and express outrage ad nauseum. Kill the messenger indeed.

Here's an eloquent excerpt from the "controversial" AI report:

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In 1973 AI published its first report on torture. It found that: “torture thrives on secrecy and impunity. Torture rears its head when the legal barriers against it are barred. Torture feeds on discrimination and fear. Torture gains ground when official condemnation of it is less than absolute.” The pictures of detainees in US custody in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, show that what was true 30 years ago remains true today.

Despite the near-universal outrage generated by the photographs coming out of Abu Ghraib, and the evidence suggesting that such practices are being applied to other prisoners held by the USA in Afghanistan, Guantánamo and elsewhere, neither the US administration nor the US Congress has called for a full and independent investigation.

Instead, the US government has gone to great lengths to restrict the application of the Geneva Conventions and to “re-define” torture. It has sought to justify the use of coercive interrogation techniques, the practice of holding “ghost detainees” (people in unacknowledged incommunicado detention) and the "rendering" or handing over of prisoners to third countries known to practise torture. The detention facility at Guantánamo Bay has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the practice of arbitrary and indefinite detention in violation of international law. Trials by military commissions have made a mockery of justice and due process.

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”.

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I didn't say AI never castigated those other countries for abuses--I'm just observing that it seems odd and misplaced to compare Gitmo to Gulags, and make such an issue out of it when there are far larger and more pressing issues.

Also, I definitely don't necessarily agree with AI's premises that the US is thumbing its nose at law and human rights. I think many facets of this Gitmo issue are debatable, including the legality; whereas the evils of ACTUAL gulags are very clear-cut and not debatable.

[ACPlayer]

You know little of what you speak (as usual).

If you take even half a minute and go to the AI website you can read advisory after advisory on these countries.

You as a libertarian should be completely offended at Gitmo. However, you late your bigotry blind you.

[MMMMMM]

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You know little of what you speak (as usual).

If you take even half a minute and go to the AI website you can read advisory after advisory on these countries.

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Can't you read, either? I never said AI never denounced practices of those countries.

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You as a libertarian should be completely offended at Gitmo. However, you late your bigotry blind you.

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I have some doubts and reservations about certain aspects of Gitmo.

However for those foreign fighters caught fighting alongside the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, my view is that they should principally consider themselves lucky they were not killed on the battlefield.