<banging head against wall>

[qatarperegrine]

What planet is this man living on???

"For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously." -Dick Cheney

Comments

[spider88.livejournal.com]

::boggle::

[mdrnprometheus.livejournal.com]

Mine, and I would like it if he would get the hell off. kthanxbye.

Funny That

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

considering how "seriously concerned and discouraged" the US-Gov gets when Amnesty criticizes the American Enemy de-jour. But we all know what a get-rich-quick wanker Cheney is.

Amnesty DOES have some serious problems, and CAN be terribly biased, like completely ignoring the context that various so-called "violations" happen in. They like to condemn the Israeli Army for firing on "civilians" (or attacking "civilian targets"), but ignoring the fact that it is was [some of] the "civilians" that fired first (or that the terrorists deliberately put their bases in such areas), i.e. using the real civilians as a human shield.

But the USA is hardly in the same situation, and Gitmo Bay, is an actual prison far from the combat zone, and thus under no unusual constraints.

Re: Funny That

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Well, so far I've avoided discussing Israel/Palestine politics with you. :-) But really -- that terrorists put their bases in civilian areas is hardly justification for killing the civilians who happen to have been unlucky enough to have their neighborhood chosen!

Note

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

that I wasn't saying this is valid "justification", just that Amnesty has this tendency to put ALL of the blame on Israel, completely "overlooking" the fact that the Arabs put the target there in the first place. This is why I said "ignoring the context". Well OK, I also put violations is quotes, but I'd rather not open that can of worms. Sufficient to say, that the IDF does everything it can, including severely risking OUR soldiers' lives to minimize the number of "bystanders" injured (As was the case in the infamous Battle of Jenin). While it could be argued that these "neighbors" of terrorists, have little choice or influence in the matter, we never see them protesting TO the terrorists or the terrorist leadership, which I think could actually be influenced, because most of them actively seek public-support. We do see quite the opposite, that these neighbors acknowledge serving as "human shields", and are proud of it.

One major difference between Mid-Eastern culture (Jewish AND Arab) and the West, is that we DO believe in Collective Responsibility.

Re: Note

[aristopheles.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, I've heard many stories about Palestinians who are mad at the guys who are shooting from near their homes.

I'm embarrassed that I can't find the link now, but this year I saw a story about a Palestinian kid who was killed by Palestinian gunmen. They'd been shooting from his parents' farm, which meant their farm was fired upon and damaged. He tried to make them leave, and they killed him.

I need to find a way of saving interesting links & articles so I can find them again. The bookmarks aren't good for that: I don't want a list, I want something I can search. Any ideas?

[aristopheles.livejournal.com]

As you'd expect, Michael Totten said it better than I could.

And actually, Cheney would have done better to make the point that Michael did:
the use of the term "gulag" was outrageous. I don't blame somebody for being more than a little upset.
As far as Cheney's own motivations--I can't speak for him.

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I agree about the use of the term "gulag," and I can see getting upset about that. I can't see getting upset about someone claiming that the US violates human rights because, duh, we do.