What a Complete Arse!

[skunk]

http://nytimes.com/2005/05/31/politics/31cnd-bush.html?hp&ex=1117598400&en=13f98a96daa3ad44&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Bush Says Abuse Charges by Rights Group Are 'Absurd'

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- President Bush called a human rights report "absurd" for criticizing the United States' detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and said Tuesday the allegations were made by "people who hate America."

"It's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world," Bush said of the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag.Is this all he's got to say?

[iGary]

Amnesty International isn't know for being completely "truthful" about things, but yes, another piss poor reaction from GW. :rolleyes:

[miloblithe]

Poor reaction, but AI's assertion is absurd. It's a convenient and inaccurate label. Gitmo is not a network of forced labor camps that huge segments of the population are sent to work and die. It is not particularly like the Soviet-era GULAG.

[redeye be]

The news we get here (Belgium) about Guantanamo Bay ain't pretty at all...

Maybe he came up with the response himself. ;) (no pun intended!)

[skunk]

From the Secretary General of AI's Message (not from the report itself, which makes no such direct comparison).
http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/message-eng
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”.Is this unfair or absurd? I think not. The Report itself is worth reading.

[IJ Reilly]

That's the problem with using language loosely for emotional impact -- you give the target of the criticism an easy way to wriggle out.

[skunk]

That's the problem with using language loosely for emotional impact -- you give the target of the criticism an easy way to wriggle out.Touché! It's true, gulag is not a judicious choice, but, to be fair to AI, it does not appear in the report itself.

[skunk]

(no pub intended!)Would that be the Irish pub just off the Grand Place? ;)

[Lyle]

Touché! It's true, gulag is not a judicious choice, but, to be fair to AI, it does not appear in the report itself.What a bunch of fascists.

[skunk]

Oh, let's not start that again! :eek:

[redeye be]

Would that be the Irish pub just off the Grand Place? ;)
I had a damn hard time keeping some water to go up my nose.
Thx. :mad:

Must have missed that one ;) :D
(edited)

[zimv20]

The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world," Bush said
if everyone will recall, when bush says "freedom," it's shorthand for "regulation-free capitalism."

and this business of blaming "those who hate america." seems to me that the real haters are the ones who undermine its constitution and legacy when given the charge of protecting it.


There are few more sickening sights than George W. Bush wearing a lapel pin bearing an image of the American flag. Bush and his creepy henchmen can wrap themselves in nationalistic symbolism all they want, but these right-wing thugs aren't patriots. They may pledge allegiance to the flag, but they despise the republic for which it stands. - Ted Rall

[Sayhey]

Hey, what ever happened to the "evil doers"? Are they now a subset of the "people who hate America"? If so, why are we losing focus with this flaccid rhetoric? Hey, he could be talking about almost anyone outside the US! Bring back the "Axis of Evil"! ;)

Seriously, skunk is right, the report (http://www.amnesty.org/) is worth reading.

[Agathon]

When a country has a secret plane it uses to transfer torture subjects to places where they may legally be tortured, it is pretty sick.

One could agree or disagree about Iraq and the so-called "War on Terror", and still find the whole Gitmo/Abu Ghraib thing extremely worrisome and disappointing.

Those responsible should be punished.

[tristan]

Deny everything, label the accuser a malicious crackpot. It's a strategy straight out of X-Files. Fortunately, Amnesty has enormous credibility.

[mactastic]

Didn't Bush use AI material on Iraq as part of his justification for war? I guess he didn't think they were absurd then...

[zimv20]

Didn't Bush use AI material on Iraq as part of his justification for war? I guess he didn't think they were absurd then...
heh heh

[takao]

well somebodyo nly have to look at the _long_ list of countries there ...

at least it led to serious earthquakes in politics over here (look up austria the law about asylums etc.)

when looking thorugh news home pages i naustria there like 8 articles within the last 7 days and like 30 alone in May about the discussion

[mactastic]

Bush Administration was for Amnesty International before they were against it. (http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=979)

Hmm... does this remind anyone of how our pre-war intelligence was cherry-picked?

[Agathon]

Didn't Bush use AI material on Iraq as part of his justification for war? I guess he didn't think they were absurd then...

What makes you think that they care for truth or logical consistency? As long as they get their own way, they don't care. It's a disgrace.

[StarbucksSam]

May I reiterate, LOUDLY, that I think that whatever is going on in Guantanamo should be PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE BY NOW. Stop flicking the yellow-orange switch and tell us what the hell is going on.