THE RIGHTS OF THE IRAQIS: THE NEED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT.
So bleats Amnesty International's Irene Khan, just before the war.
there is a greater moral responsibility on those who have begun the attacks to avoid a humanitarian and human rights disaster. The United States, Britain and their allies must take all possible steps to minimize the impact of the conflict on the people of Iraq.and
The United Nations must remain a major player in protecting the human rights of the Iraqi people. The UN Security Council, which has expressed its concern for the protection of civilians in armed conflict in other situations in the world, would be abrogating its responsibility if it remains silent or inactive on Iraq now.Now that the war is over the newspapers are full of stories like this one and this one and this one that describe Saddam's horrendous human rights abuses -- which have now ended. What's clear is that the US and British military have accomplished far more for human rights in Iraq in three weeks than Amnesty International and the UN Security Council have accomplished in as many decades.
It's time, I think, for Amnesty International to simply disband itself, apologize for its worthlessness and refund its treasury to its contributors. The money can certainly be put to better use. More importantly, the vital work of curing human rights abuses can't afford to hampered by Amnesty's pointless and meddlesome carping.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 21, 2003 03:50 PMOne thing has become very clear in this conflict,and that is that any of the Left's stated agendas have nothing whatsoever to do with what they are really all about.In fact it is usually the opposite and they are usually guilty of all of the nastiness that they accuse the right of.And give back$?Whoa,they earned it by having the right"intentions",unlike those barbaric capitalists that keep their sorry asses alive.
Posted by: mbruce on April 21, 2003 04:05 PMThey have a radio commercial in which they say "nobody should be tortured, imprisoned or killed." Period. No mention of "for political reasons". Just shut down all jails, even for work-a-day criminals!
They really do believe in Amnesty for everybody, all the time.