WELL, THINGS ARE WORSE IF YOU IGNORE COMMUNISM'S CRIMES:

Human rights at a 50-year nadir: Amnesty report says US war on terror encourages global abuses (Ewen MacAskill, May 27, 2004, The Guardian)

Human rights last year came under the most sustained attack for 50 years, according to the annual report of Amnesty International published yesterday.

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty, blamed a combination of groups such as al-Qaida and the response of US and other governments as part of the war on terror. "The global security agenda promoted by the US administration is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle," she said.

"Violating rights at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad, and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous place."

A host of countries, following the lead of the US, had introduced legislation after September 11 that seriously undermined human rights, especially the right to a fair trial. Others had used the war on terror as an excuse to crack down on legitimate political and religious dissent.

Challenged at a press conference in London over the claim that human rights abuses were running at the highest level for 50 years, an Amnesty spokeswoman said that while there might no longer be abuses in a single country on the scale of Cambodia under Pol Pot, the abuses were more spread out.

You're in trouble when even The Guardian realizes you're full of it. Calling the Chinese repression of the Uighurs worse than the Cultural Revolution is the height of idiocy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 28, 2004 2:44 PM