Moral Authority

This really begs many questions.

If America is such a 'moral authority,' then why has the country been continuously badgered about every decision it has made? Well, that would be because America is a moral authority in only the lower case sense. An example, the Islamic world definitely doesn't look to America for moral authority in any way. They look to their religion for the Upper Case moral authority and then their tribal or societal authorities for the lower case. Moral authority, Bah.

Then there is:

Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth said the massacres in Darfur and murderous attacks against civilians in other countries were clearly more heinous than the U.S. abuse of prisoners.

However, he said the United States has set itself up as the defender of human rights around the world, adding that when it fails to adhere to long-established standards, it lends seeming legitimacy to repressive practices pursued by other governments in the name of security.

Let's see. 'Set itself up as' is an interesting term. Apparently, the USA has the overall desire to see human rights flourish, and are essentially the only world power that has any feeling of responsibility for that. So, more than setting itself up, should more appropriately be stated as, "has taken the burden of defender of human rights around the world." Because obviously that defense takes money and lives to get the job done, and I don't see anyone else stepping up.

The arguments on the use of aggressive coercion, because it really can't be called torture, at Abu Gharib, carries only light shame. If our enemy had the powers we do, do you think that the government would have announced the investigation into the abuses. [yes, they are factually challenged with their supposition that the abuses were "uncovered" last year, not revealed by the government.]

Then they still demand that this obviously is causal behavior from the top since Gonzales had a memo from the DoJ requesting clarification on legality surrounding specific acts. I'm betting that the people that were performing the abuse never would have known that there had ever been a memo if it hadn't been illegally released to the press.

I suppose that the Human Rights Watch organization is there to assure that everyone plays nice, but they really haven't a clue about what fights they should be taking on. With all the time, effort, and screeching about stacks of naked prisoners, they should have used that effort to stop the corporeal punishment and extreme torture that goes on every day in the middle east. Instead we get to listen to BS.