Amnesty International in Need of a Dictionary

Amnesty International doesn't sensationalize there statements do they?

Amnesty International castigated the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay as a failure Wednesday, calling it "the gulag of our time" in the human rights group's harshest rebuke yet of American detention policies.

Hmmm. Gulag?

1. A network of forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union.
2. A forced labor camp or prison, especially for political dissidents.
3. A place or situation of great suffering and hardship, likened to the atmosphere in a prison system or a forced labor camp.

Nope, I just don't see it.

Forced Labor - Nope
Soviet Union - Nope
Political Dissidents - Nope
Hardship - Yup
Atmosphere in a Prison - Damn Right

Key here is it's a prison. Not a place for a spa, casino and lounge.

But then the article continues:

But one of the biggest disappointments in the human rights arena was with the United States, Amnesty said, "after evidence came to light that the U.S. administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the U.N. Convention against Torture." [emphasis mine]

Another interesting bit of sophistry. Must have missed the evidence showing that sanction from the president. You can make your judgment as to whether there were actual violations by going to the link I provided in the quote. (It wasn't original to the article.)

As to the disappointment, don't they think they should be looking at countries that have substantial problems with human rights and torture. They could start by looking at the UN's Commission on Human Rights.

If you want to actually look at Amnesty International's report go here.

UPDATE:

Here is an interesting section of Amnesty International's report.

Prisoners of conscience

Conscientious objectors Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía Castillo and Sergeant Abdullah William Webster were imprisoned; they were prisoners of conscience. Both men remained in prison at the end of the year.

Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía Castillo was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for desertion after he refused to return to his unit in Iraq on moral grounds relating to his misgivings about the legality of the war and the conduct of US troops towards Iraqi civilians and prisoners. His trial in May went ahead despite a pending decision by the army on his application for conscientious objector status.

In June, Sergeant Abdullah William Webster, who had served in the US army since 1985, was sentenced to 14 monthsÂ’ imprisonment and loss of salary and benefits for refusing to participate in the war in Iraq on the basis of his religious beliefs. He had been ordered to deploy to Iraq despite submitting an application to be reassigned to non-combatant services. His application for conscientious objector status was refused on the ground that his objection was not to war in general but to a particular war.

Now tell me how deserters are having their human rights violated?

The moral objections and questioning of the legality of the Iraq war is a fascinating argument by Castillo. Strange how your military contract doesn't give you an out if you think the war illegal.

I love the religious beliefs reasoning for Sgt. Abdullah Webster. Funny that he hadn't had that objection when he joined the Army.

Not that they are just cowards deserting from a service that they joined. Is AI trying to convince us that people should be able to jump ship if they have some little qualm about a conflict? Maybe AI should also learn that these men volunteered. They weren't drafted or forced in any other manner.