Wednesday, May 25, 2005


US undermines rights, Guantanamo like 'gulag'- Amnesty - Yahoo! News
Wait till it's one of our boys (or girls). Then the howls will begin.

LONDON (Reuters) - Four years after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, human rights are in retreat worldwide and the United States bears most responsibility, Amnesty International said on Wednesday, calling Guantanamo prison "the gulag of our times."

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe the picture is bleak. Governments are increasingly rolling back the rule of law, taking their cue from the U.S.-led war on terror, the London-based human rights group said.

"The USA as the unrivaled political, military and economic hyper-power sets the tone for governmental behavior worldwide," Secretary General Irene Khan said in the foreword to Amnesty International's 2005 annual report.

"When the most powerful country in the world thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights, it grants a license to others to commit abuse with impunity," she added.

The report cited the pictures last year of abuse of detainees at Iraq's U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison, which it said were never adequately investigated, and the detention without trial of "enemy combatants" at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the practice of arbitrary and indefinite detention in violation of international law," Khan said.

In Washington, the White House said the report was "ridiculous and unsupported by the facts."

"The United States is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity. We have liberated 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have worked to advance freedom and democracy in the world ...," said spokesman Scott McClellan.

How in the fuck do you sleep at night, McClellan? My God, your nose must be about nine feet long by now.