Gitmo, Amnesty and the Theatre of the Absurd
Posted by Suzanne Nossel
Now its no longer Newsweek, its Amnesty International. Here's what President Bush had to say yesterday about Amnesty International's latest human rights report:
I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and it's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that is -- promotes freedom around the world. When there's accusations made about certain actions by our people, they're fully investigated in a transparent way. It's just an absurd allegation.
In terms of the detainees, we've had thousands of people detained. We've investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of -- and the allegations -- by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report. It just is.
More on the report here. Thinkprogress has pointed out that when the Administration was making its case against Saddam Hussein, it repeatedly cited Amnesty reports on the Iraqi regime's human rights abuses.
The President's latest comments (and similar remarks made Sunday by Cheney on Larry King - the word "absurd" clearly featured prominently in the talking points) are yet more evidence of the White House's refusal to come to grips with the abuses in detention revealed in recent weeks. It would be one thing if Bush lashed out against Amnesty but acknowledged the troubling revelations at Guantanamo and Bagram. But he lashed out at Amnesty and left it at that.
Bush's swept those findings to one side countering that the U.S. is a purveyor of freedom, as if this should trump everything else. Though her husband claims not to, Laura Bush seems to get the contradicition.
During a recent trip to Egypt she told NBC: "We are an example . . . And that's why the photographs that have come out are so particularly damaging, because we are held to a higher standard than other countries because of our own history of democracy."
This is part of why when it comes to America's image in the Arab world, when it comes to America's image our role in helping advance democracy is at risk of being overshadowed by the prisoner scandals. See here for a more thorough analysis of why.
One of the challenges faced by the progressive movement is making clear that both morally, practically, and politically indifference and denial won't cut it in response to the abuses in detention. The moral case is clear. The practical impact on our foreign policy is demonstrable, though the Administration is nowhere close to acknowledging that link.
The political piece may be the hardest.
Another challenge for progressives is to keep our message patriotic and serious while maintaining the appropriate level of disgust.
Focusing on firing Rumsfeld may be the most productive route now. Americans are unsure about his criminality, but they know that he was in charge, he tried to hide the torture while doing little to stop it, and he still has not figured out the nature of the Iraqi insurgency (after years of torture-interrogation).
Firing him is the first step in restoring American values.
Besides, he has got only one thing right since Sept. 11: al Qaeda doesn't have any good targets to bomb. So he wanted a different enemy, and now Iraq doesn't have any good targets to bomb either. Now he's out of ideas.
Posted by: Jeff Owen | June 02, 2005 at 04:19 AM
On Rumsfeld again: there's not much new poll info about him (I think he's laying low), but the most recent polls that I could google have a majority wanting him to resign. Torture is a main reason.
June's Atlantic Monthly had a good article about how they successfully got info out of Japanese POWs in WWII.
Toture didn't work then either.
Posted by: Jeff Owen | June 02, 2005 at 05:40 AM
I like Amnesty's attitude.
Torturing books = chopping off heads.
What? Amnesty didn't mention head chopping of prisoners by Islamic fascists. What a surprise.
Well you know how it is. Those poor wogs can be excused because of American opression of holy books. It is understandable if regretable.
Several dozen of American prisoners captured on battlefields died in captivity and the guilty have at least been tried and some punished. Millions died in the gulags and at the hand of islamic fascists. Who was tried? Who was punished?
No one? Must be America's fault.
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