Bush Tries to Discredit Amnesty International

They smeared John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries. They smeared Al Gore in the general election. They got the Swiftboat Veterans for the truth to smear John Kerry's war record. Now they are trying to smear Amnesty International.

I hate them. Bush, Cheney, Rove, Karen Hughes, and all of the rest. They are engaging in an effort to control the damage from stories and reports about our torture of detainees by attacking the messengers. Newsweek made a mistake when it reported a Koran had been flushed down a toilet. It retracted the story. So now they are trying to use the reflected embarassment from the Newsweek affair to bring into question Amnesty International's credibility.

In case you didn't know, Amnesty International issued it's annual report last week. They deliver a well-documented, thoroughly researched report on human rights in every country of the world. This year the United States was faulted for abuses at Guantanamo Bay, and selectively criticizing torture by other nations. AI faulted the U.S. for not upholding a leadership role on the issue of human rights

Bush called AI's report absurd.

Bush is absurd. And pathetic. And an embarassment to every honest American. We need to impeach him. We cannot continue as a nation with an ideological zealot in the White House making a mockery of our nation's most treasured principles.

If you need a reminder of the magnitude of Bush's lies, check out this compilation provided by th progressive website, American Progress. It has cataloged the lies and distortions of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq War. An amazing and disturbing list.

Addendum on June 1: If you aren't aware of the "Downing Street Memo" that detailed the plans of the Bush Administration to go to war in Iraq regardless of the evidence, you can read it for yourself here.

More lies by Cheney

Dick Cheney has no regard for the truth or the American people. Yesterday, he sought to discredit the Amnesty International report criticizing the United States treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. He claims that he was "OFFENDED" by the report!

In the face of all the evidence given not only by prisoners released from the facility, but organizations such as Amnesty, the Red Cross, as well as a former member of the military translator that recently released a major book about what he witnessed, Cheney denies it all, claiming in one broad stroke that all of this evidence has been fabricated:

“Occasionally there are allegations of mistreatment,” Cheney said. “But if you trace those back, in nearly every case, it turns out to come from somebody who had been inside and released to their home country and now are peddling lies about how they were treated.”

He neglects to mention that these reports also come from the International Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, members of the F.B.I. and our own military. He neglects to mention that even the members of the “coalition of the willing”, Britain and Australia, are upset with what we are doing in Guantanamo Bay.
Of course, Cheney had no problem citing AI's reports on Saddam in trying to justify our "pre-emptive" war against Iraq. But now, I guess, the people at AI are a bunch of left-wing extremists that want the terrorists to win.

The contempt for the truth from these men in the White House is unforgivable.

I cannot believe we have not begun to draw up impeachment papers.

For more on Cheney's hypocrisy check out this posting Daily Koz, a Democratic website.

Vets of War in Iraq Deserve Praise and an Apology

A mainstream newspaper had a very telling editorial on this memorial day. In part, it read:

In exchange for our uniformed young people's willingness to offer the gift of their lives, civilian Americans owe them something important: It is our duty to ensure that they never are called to make that sacrifice unless it is truly necessary for the security of the country. In the case of Iraq, the American public has failed them; we did not prevent the Bush administration from spending their blood in an unnecessary war based on contrived concerns about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. President Bush and those around him lied, and the
rest of us let them. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes. Perhaps it happened because Americans, understandably, don't expect untruths from those in power. But that works better as an explanation than as an excuse.

It is sad but true that these men were asked to die to defend our nation from another nation (Iraq) which presented no credible threat to us. It would have been nice to have leveled with the men and women of our military about their mission before asking them to put their lives on the line. The best that the Bush administration can say now is that this war was to bring down a dictator and to attempt to reform the politics of the Mideast. Whether these men and women were willing to lay down their lives for that was something they should have been able to decide.

Filibuster Bluster

The Senate has reached an agreement on this issue on the eve of the votes scheduled for some of Bush's most controversial Appeals Court nominees. If you are wondering about the filibuster, check out this MSNBC article. Aside from the politics of this, it is an excellent opportunity to learn more about how the Senate actually does business. Many Senators have reflected on this in recent days and political scientists are being tapped for their expertise as journalists grapple with this story involving arcane procedural rules and traditions. The New York Times has an interesting article trying to put all of this into perspective.

Little Action on Darfur

It is hard to say that there is good news on the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, but at least the African Union is promising to increase their troop strength in the region. Hopefully this will happen quickly. Sudan is still languishing in a horrible predicament, and more action is needed as quickly as possible to save lives.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times points out how little has been done on the tragedy in Darfur in the last 100 days. Did anyone see Nightline last night? Darfur was the topic and I missed it!

Mounting Evidence of U.S. Torture

Evidence continues to pile up that paints an overall picture of the United States disregarding the most basic standards of decency and fairness. A report surfaced in today's news with new allegations of torture and humiliation being used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The report isn't due out for several weeks, but sources spoke to the New York Times about the sexual and psychological abuse that was witnessed and reported to the military.

It is time that Donald Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez, and other top officials be made to face more intense invesitgations. Too much of this has gone on under their watch for them to continue to evade a large scale investigation any longer. These things happened on their watch, and they must be held accountable. Our national reputation and the standards for international decency stand in the balance.

Human Rights Abuses in the War on Terror

The news about these matters continues to appear in the press. I thought I'd try to catch all of you up on a few of the things out there. Below are some recent articles to help understand this issue. I describe the oldest ones first.

The U.S. has been making statements in response to the pressure that is being put on them about detainees being mistreated. In March, this story got headlines around the country: U.S. Is Examining a Plan to Bolster the Rights of Detainees

What has been disappointing to many of us is that the military continues to maintain that no one of a high level is reponsible for the things that went on at Abu Ghraib prison. A military tribunal cleared a bunch of officers of wrong-doing in a trial last month. The trial seems to have left a lot of unanswered questions. Military tribunal ignored evidence on detainee March 28, 2005
Evidence that the U.S. sent detainees abroad to be tortured is out there. One of the stories that has gotten a lot of attention is that of Maher Arar. From the New York Times:

Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States,
saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 as he changed planes in New York
and transported him to Syria where, he says, he was held for 10 months in a
dank, tiny cell and brutally beaten with a metal cable.

Now federal aviation records examined by The New York Times appear to
corroborate Mr. Arar's account of his flight, during which, he says, he sat
chained on the leather seats of a luxury executive jet as his American guards
watched movies and ignored his protests.

Meanwhile, the fight overt the Patriot Act continues. Gonzales urges renewal of Patriot Act April 6, 2005.

There was an excellent article in the Seattle Times that described some evidence uncovered about detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. It reminded us:

The government is holding about 550 people at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.
An additional 214 have been released since the facility opened in January 2002 —
some into the custody of their home governments, others freed outright.

Little information about those held at Guantánamo has been released
through official government channels. But stories of 60 or more prisoners are
spelled out in detail in thousands of pages of transcripts filed in U.S.
District Court in Washington, where lawsuits challenging their detentions have
been filed.

The military released a report saying that they have reviewed the cases of all of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and are justified in keeping all of them in detention as "enemy combatents". There are still lawyers fighting to have their cases heard in U.S. Courts. Read this article here.
The U.S. has only convicted low-ranking members of the military in connection with the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. In a recent article, a human rights attorney explains why she believes Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials should be invesigated more closely.

A few days ago, news came out that the army is writing a new manual on how to interrogate prisoners (without torturing them). One Senator pointed out that the fact that is had to be re-written is an indication that not enough was being done to train people not to torture prisoners.
Yesterday's paper included a headline that, "Lynndie England to plead guilty to Abu Ghraib abuses." She was in some of the more shocking photos we saw from Abu Ghraib.

Finally, Amnesty International released a press release a few days ago, Abuses Continue One Year After Abu Ghraib.

Tom DeLay Must Go

Tom DeLay has been the Republican Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives for several years and is undeserving of this position. This Texan has repeatedly used cynical, unethical methods of winning political battles by bending rules and intimidating junior representatives shows Congress at its worst. Only the latest of these was the manipulation of the Terry Shiavo tragedy for political gain.

Tom DeLay has brought dishonor and divisiveness to an already highly partisan Congress. We cannot allow a man with such an ethical cloud over his head to continue to wield such power in the House. He is a liability to the Congress, the Republican Party and the United States of America. Today the newest allegations surfaced when it was discovered that he has paid his wife and another family members over half a million dollars since 2001 for political advice according to an article in the New York Times. Please support all efforts to remove Tom DeLay from his position as House Majority Leader. MoveOn.org is currently asking people to sign petitions on-line calling on Congress to remove him from his leadership position. They provide the following damning list of reasons to remove him from power:

Among his offenses, Tom DeLay:
*Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor
*Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare
*Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law
*Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas
*Diverted funds from a children's charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention
*Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don't support Republicans
*Stacked the House Ethics committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund
*Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed
*Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules
*Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him
*Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel
*Sought a rule change that would have no longer "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted"
*Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

Secret Detentions at Guantanamo Bay

While the news of the Pope's death, Terri Schiavo's death, and natural disasters have been grabbing most of the headlines, the troubling practice of evading our Constitution's protections for those accused of crimes continues in the Bush administration. Guantanamo Bay has been symbolic of this problem, a place where "the C.I.A. detention effort has been classified as a "special access program," a category that puts it off limits even to most of those with top secret security clearances. "

It makes a lot of us uncomfortable that the same administration that has displayed so much arrogance and incompetance in prosecuting the war on terror is getting away with gross violations of our Constitution. The New York Times reported that "the White House is maintaining extraordinary restrictions on information about the detention of high-level terror suspects, permitting only a small number of members of Congress to be briefed on how and where the prisoners are being held and interrogated."

More oversight is clearly needed. This administration has not earned enough trust to be allowed such incredible powers without sufficient checks. The American people need to demand their government back.

Iraqi Democracy?

Almost a month has passed since the excitement and euphoria over the elections in Iraq. Now, Iraqis are attempting something even harder, putting together a government.

No one should expect that this will go especially smoothly. There are real and wide differences among the various factions in Iraq. Many hoped, as the Christian Science Monitor pointed out today, that there would not be a need for 150,000 troops to still be in Iraq keeping the peace. As was the case when Saddam was toppled, many in the U.S. proclaimed victory too soon after the election at the end of January.

As we approach the two year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, the doubts of many Americans about our involvement remain. The CS Monitor also
summarized some recent polling data:

Still, many Americans, when asked, express uneasiness with - if not opposition to - the war. As reported this week in a Washington Post-ABC News Poll, 53 percent of Americans feel the war was not worth fighting, 57 percent say they disapprove of the Mr. Bush's handling of Iraq, and 70 percent think the number of US casualties is an unacceptable price to have paid. A plurality of Americans (41 percent) also believe the war has damaged this country's standing abroad, particularly as they see much of the "coalition of the willing" heading home from Iraq, leaving Americans to carry more and more of the burden there.

Where do we go from here? Many in the anti-war movement are still calling for an immediate withdrawal. The Bush Administration has refused to set a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, and on the first day of the Iraqi National Assembly, the wide disagreements among the delegates was evident.

10,000 dying each month in Darfur, U.N. says

Never again.

This is what the world says each and every time an act of genocide or mass killings occur. But the promise and the pledge have fallen through yet again in Africa.

The United Nations has just confirmed what many who have been studying the problem in the Darfur region of Sudan have been saying in recent months, that the death toll is much higher than the official toll of 70,000 that is most commonly reported.

Since last March, it is estimated that 180,000 have died from disease and starvation alone. That number does not include those killed outright by the armed militia or janjaweed that prowl the Darfur, Sudan.

Call our Senators today and ask them to vote in favor of the Darfur Accountability Act. There are many other things you can do by making our representatives in government put this tragedy on the agenda. See Amnesty International's Sudan page for information and its "Sudan Action" page for letters you can sign and send today.

Let's do more than just sit by, watch and repeat the phrase "never again".

Awesome Book by Leading American Thinker

I spent a nice part of this sunny afternoon reading the first 50 pages of this outstanding book. Democracy Matters is a book I would have liked to have written if I were more intelligent and well educated. In it, West dissects the dysfunctional currents in our political system, and uses an amazing array of philosophy, history, literature, music and current events to make his point that America needs to return to a deep democratic tradition that we have inherited to fight the racist and imperialist traditions we have also inherited.

An inspiring call to think, discuss, and work together to bring about an improvement in the human condition in our nation and in our world. If you want something more substantial than the Bush-bashing you get from Michael Moore or Al Franken, check out Cornell West.

No more executions for Juvenile Offenders!

I haven't posted anything in a long while. Recently however, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws across the United States that allow for the execution of criminals tried as adults who were under 18 at the time the crime was committed. What do you think of this? The U.S. was one of the few remaining nations that allowed for the execution of minors. Do you agree with the slim majority (5-4) on the Court that ruled that the practice was a violation of the 8th Amendment?

I for one, have argued for a long time that the practice of capital punishment needs to be looked at in a modern and humanitarian fashion. It is a barbaric practice that furthers the tendency toward violence in our culture. Crime is not deterred by the death penalty. If falls disproportionately on minority and poor convicts. Too many innocent people have been executed in the recent past because of errors of our legal system. I would prefer to see state legislatures around the nation and Congress vote to ban the practice. Short of that, should the Court ban the practice? Does the ruling on minors open the door for such a ruling?

Founder of Amnesty Int'l Dead at 83

Peter Benenson, Founder of Amnesty International

A sad note for those who are devoted to the cause of human rights. Peter Benenson, the man who started a letter writing campaign in 1961 to free political prisoners in Portugal, has died. His campaign eventually became what we know as Amnesty International.

Thanks to Yosef Fufa for first posting this on this site as a comment.

Amnesty International's website has more information on Benenson's life and all of its work on human rights around the globe. There is a wonderful news release that discusses his life. It gave me goosebumps! He truly was a man dedicated to making the world a better place.

The website includes the following:

As he said in 1961, lighting the first Amnesty candle, "I’m reminded of the words of a 16th century man sentenced to death by burning: We have today lit such a candle as shall never be put out."

...At a ceremony to mark Amnesty International's 25th anniversary, Mr Benenson lit what has become the organisation's symbol -- a candle entwined in barbed wire -- with the words:

"The candle burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who ‘disappeared’. That is what the candle is for."

Thanks to all of you who have been a part of his legacy through your work on behalf of human rights.

Doing the Right Things: An American Hero

A lot of citizens complain.

A lot of politicians talk.

But year in and year out, Senator Russ Feingold does something about the problems of America. No, I am not working in his campaign, but I think he is one of the most under-rated people in U.S. government.

Senator Russ Feingold is one of my heroes. He isn't particularly charismatic, but from everything I read about the man, he is one of the most visionary leaders in the Senate, and has more integrity than anyone I can think of in our federal government.

Feingold is, I suppose a liberal. (He has long championed fiscal restraint, and that puts him to the right of a lot of members of the Bush administration.) He is definately a Democrat from Wisconsin, and carrys on that state's legacy of progressivism. Here are a sampling of the causes he has championed: an end to the death penalty, campaign finance reform (he co-authored the bill with John McCain who got most of the publicity), he voted against Alberto Gonzalez and in 2001, said that we were rushing into passing the Patriot Act, and was the ONLY SENATOR that voted against it.

He has recently introduced three bills to curb the excesses of the Patriot Act.

He was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Harvard Law School. He has been in the Senate since 1992 and I hope he keeps fighting the good fight for a long time.

Check him out.

Alberto Gonzales

The Senate voted to confirm him today, but the Democrats showed strong opposition. Although there was never any doubt that the Republicans would confirm him since they control the Senate, the 36 Senators voting "no" sent a strong message to the Bush White House and the world that we are serious in our opposition to the use of torture.

I think the Senate Democrats have laid the ground work for mounting a strong opposition to future right wing nominees.

Send a note of thanks to our Senators, Murray and Cantwell for voting "no". Here is the message I sent to both of them through their web sites:

Senators:

Thank you very much for having the courage to vote "no" on the vote to ratify Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. You took a principled stand for some of the most cherished principles in our constitutional system.

Although he was confirmed, I believe that the large number of "no" votes sent an important message to the Bush Administration: The American people will not tolerate any use of torture or violations of basic human rights by our government. Your vote helps to encourage me that the United States of America is still a place where the rule of law matters and that we can reclaim our reputation around the world. The United States can still exercise strong moral leadership in this world if we display the kind of commitment to protecting human rights that you demonstrated today.

Let us hope that Mr. Bush is more careful in future
appointments because of the vote you and 35 others cast today.

By the way, I don't get how John McCain, a former POW and victim of torture by the North Vietnamese, was able to bring himself to vote for Gonzales. I guess a man who wants the White House bad enough is willing to compromise on just about anything to stay in the good graces of the Party.

Social Security Reform

I will give the Bush White House this much: the State of the Union speech was well written and it gave some details about what the Bush agenda will be in the next few years. However, those details are not to impressive. For all of the talk about how much change this will bring to the Social Security system, it just sounds like a bad deal when you look at the details. According to the Washington Post:

Under the proposal, workers could invest as much as 4 percent of their wages subject to Social Security taxation in a limited assortment of stock, bond and mixed-investment funds. But the government would keep and administer that money. Upon retirement, workers would then be given any money that exceeded inflation-adjusted gains over 3 percent.

That money would augment a guaranteed Social Security benefit that would be reduced by a still-undetermined amount from the currently promised benefit.

In effect, the accounts would work more like a loan from the government, to be paid back upon retirement at an inflation-adjusted 3 percent interest rate — the interest the money would have earned if it had been invested in Treasury bonds, said Peter R. Orszag, a Social Security analyst at the Brookings Institution and a former Clinton White House economist.

State of the Union

Okay, the speech is tonight. Let me know what you think of what "W" had to say tonight. "Glittering generalities" or was there some substance? Sensible plan on Social Security or a false crisis being drummed up to privatize the system? A plan to get out of Iraq or wishful thinking?

By the way, call or e-mail your Senators now! Ask them to vote no on making Alberto Gonzales the new Attorney General! We don't need someone in that position that will play legal games with the definition of torture. We are supposed to be all about rights, due process, fairness. Send this guy back to Texas. He doesn't belong in OUR federal government - we have respect for the rule of law - we don't try to redefine it to torture prisoners. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Blogs from Baghdad

The Iraqis have voted. For most it was a great day. In other parts of Iraq, few people tried to vote. There was violence and as of this posting about 36 were killed. In addition to listening to the news, I have found it interesting to log on to some of the blog sites from Iraqis. Just like in the good old USA, there are a variety of opinions.

One of them was proud and triumphant. This blogger clearly sees this as the beginning of freedom and independence for the Iraqi people. It is exciting to read what he posted, including the lines, "We could smell pride in the atmosphere this morning; everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the center. I couldn't think of a scene more beautiful than that."

One of them thinks that all of the emphasis on elections is a little misplaced. A Family in Baghdad .

There are others as well:

The Iraqi Letter to America has a very different viewpoint than most of us get of things. It shows the fear that a lot of Iraqis live with. He makes a really good point - that the people who have demanded that the elections take place are not the same people who are facing danger by going to the polls. He makes a strong case for how much is being demanded of Iraqi citizens:

Imagine that it is known that there were bombs on a number of the planes leaving JFK airport on a certain day. What should the authorities do? What would you do? Ask the people to go about their business, make a stand against terrorism, show courage and board those planes – telling them not to be intimidated by terrorists? The show must go on? Would that be a responsible thing to do? Later, when the worst comes to the worst… blame the terrorists for the unfortunate loss of life… and call it a day? Wouldn’t that be reckless and irresponsible? Yet, this is what we have.

Let us have a look at those different people urging the Iraqi people to go out and vote.

1. The US administration’s representatives in Iraq, the US army and the Interim government running the country from heavily defended fortresses… and cannot even protect those fortresses. Yet, they hope to protect more than 6000 polling stations across the country… where people are to go, to vote.

2. These people in charge do not venture out of their fortresses unless heavily armored and covered by a blanket of security. Yet they ask unarmed men and women to go out and expose themselves to danger.

3. Candidates who are not prepared to go out and take a risk and campaign for themselves. Some do not even have the courage to have their names published and be known. Secret candidates! Yet, they want Iraqis to take the risk and vote for them.

4. Many American super-patriots who are still shivering with anger or fear of attacks carried out on three buildings in their country more than three years ago. Yet, they ask Iraqi housewives (eg Rose) not to be frightened or intimidated by terrorists… in a country that is going through multitudes of 9/11’s regularly.

5. A country that is wisely taking measure after measure to protect its frightened citizens and ensure their safety through stringent finger print and eye retina scans for visitors… is so eager to expose Iraqis to grave danger.

6. President Bush who did not return to his seat of government immediately after those attacks, fearing for his safety. Yet, he asks Iraqis to show courage.

7. The UN Secretary General, who withdrew his entire staff from Iraq following one attack. Now he is asking Iraqis to vote in a dangerous situation and telling them that the UN will do everything to help them.

Reckless and irresponsible!

Isn’t it enough for Iraqis to live under the constant
threat of random violence, just going about their shattered lives? Governments should be less reckless and more responsible than that! People should be more caring for fellow human beings.

President Bush has called the election a success. The long and the short of it is that a lot of people voted in the places where it was fairly safe to do so. People did not vote in the dangerous parts of Iraq. Iraqis should be proud of the courage and determination they showed in going to the polls today.

The hard part, governing a nation and writing a consitution, still lie ahead. Let us hope that the Iraqi people can use the momentum and spirit of unity they showed in going to the polls today to carry them through that difficult task.

And maybe, someday soon, the American troops can come home!

Read the caption, it gets better...

Wow! This picture of Cheney at the ceremony marking the 60th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in Poland is real. I found it first on Al Franken's web site but the accomponying story can be found in the Washington Post.

Quoth the Washington Post:

At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.
The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.