Inconvenient friends

Amnesty international has long been considered, by past US administrations, and THIS US administration, a valuable and reliable source of accurate data regarding the inhumane, inhuman practices of the worst regimes in the world.

Rumsfeld repeatedly cited Amnesty when he was making the case against Saddam Hussein, urging "a careful reading of Amnesty International" and saying that according to "Amnesty International's description of what they know has gone on, it's not a happy picture."

The White House often cited Amnesty to make the case for war in Iraq, using the group's allegations that Iraq executed dozens of women accused of prostitution, decapitated victims and displayed their heads, tortured political opponents and raped detainees' relatives, gouged out eyes, and used electric shocks.

Regarding Fidel Castro's Cuba, meanwhile, the White House joined Amnesty and other groups in condemning Castro's "callous disregard for due process."

And the State Department's most recent annual report on worldwide human rights abuses cites Amnesty's findings dozens of times.

"This administration eagerly cites Amnesty International research when we criticize Cuba and extensively quoted our criticism of the violations in Iraq under Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the war," protested William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA.

But the goose's sauce is mighty bitter on the gander. The BushCorp™ is shocked, shocked I tell you at AI's criticism of US detention, torture and murder practices since 9/11:

President Bush: "It's absurd. It's an absurd allegation."

Vice President Cheney: "I don't take them seriously. . . . Frankly, I was offended by it."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld: "Reprehensible . . . cannot be excused."

In fact William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty's Washington-based branch, has completed the Solzhenitsyn reference begun previously by the groups condemnation of Guantanamo as an American gulag:

"The U.S. is maintaining an archipelago of prisons around the world, many of them secret prisons, into which people are being literally disappeared, held in indefinite, incommunicado detention without access to lawyers or a judicial system or to their families," Schulz said.

Just to quibble, the archipelago reference is likely more accurate than the gulag part. It's entirely believable the US now has little secret jails spread about the globe in out of the way places, it's less likely the inmates are performing forced slave labor, more likely just enduring a little torture, punctuated by the occasional beatings and photo-ops with bored GIs.

Unless and until a full and open investigation is extant, a further sign and symptom of the disintigration of US standing, domestically and overseas, is how widely believed such accusations will be.

Any that oppose a full and fair investigation into these charges is putting American service men and women at further risk in service to a corrupt administration.

If BushCorp™ is innocent of the charges, let it so be proved. But from the same gang that brought us phantom WMD and mushroom clouds that vanish into dust, mere protestations of innocence are far from convincing.

We must demand those who've besmirched this country's great name be held to account, lest we all bear their shame.