Amnesty issued a damning report on the last 60 years of human rights abuses. They want Western Governments to apologise for the actions of despots. Seems it's all the rage to demand an apology, but I wonder if they are asking the wrong people.
I'm wondering if they should be asking the actual despots to apologise. I'm also wondering if it's Amnesty that should also be apologising. I certainly expected a lot more from them and are very disappointed in the organisation they have become. Say sorry.
Amnesty International today challenged world leaders to apologize for six decades of human rights failure and re-commit themselves to deliver concrete improvements.
"The human rights flashpoints in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar demand immediate action," said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, launching AI Report 2008: State of the World's Human Rights.
Why do they expect world leaders to apologise for Zimbabwe? Because they haven't intervened? What about Iraq - where Saddam was responsible for mass murder and some of the worst violations of human rights, America intervened and Amnesty expect an apology for that. Make up your mind.
Why don't Amnesty apologise for losing track of their core values, and instead spending more effort on Gitmo than North Korea, not to mention their support for killing people locked in small windowless rooms.
But hey, world leaders, here's your chance to step up to the plate. Mugabe is on the conference circuit, step in and arrest him, lock him away in Gitmo and sort out Zimbabwe. It's apparently what Amnesty would want, and more importantly, you could count on my support too.
Related Link: Amnesty demands an apology
And Liberty Scott asks for Amnesty in North Korea
All this whilst Mugabe is dining on Italian Cuisine, and fiddling whilst Rome burns. Err, whilst Rhodesia burns. Err, whilst Zimbabwe burns.
And finally, No Amnesty for the death penalty
I'm wondering if they should be asking the actual despots to apologise. I'm also wondering if it's Amnesty that should also be apologising. I certainly expected a lot more from them and are very disappointed in the organisation they have become. Say sorry.
Amnesty International today challenged world leaders to apologize for six decades of human rights failure and re-commit themselves to deliver concrete improvements.
"The human rights flashpoints in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar demand immediate action," said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, launching AI Report 2008: State of the World's Human Rights.
Why do they expect world leaders to apologise for Zimbabwe? Because they haven't intervened? What about Iraq - where Saddam was responsible for mass murder and some of the worst violations of human rights, America intervened and Amnesty expect an apology for that. Make up your mind.
Why don't Amnesty apologise for losing track of their core values, and instead spending more effort on Gitmo than North Korea, not to mention their support for killing people locked in small windowless rooms.
But hey, world leaders, here's your chance to step up to the plate. Mugabe is on the conference circuit, step in and arrest him, lock him away in Gitmo and sort out Zimbabwe. It's apparently what Amnesty would want, and more importantly, you could count on my support too.
Related Link: Amnesty demands an apology
And Liberty Scott asks for Amnesty in North Korea
All this whilst Mugabe is dining on Italian Cuisine, and fiddling whilst Rome burns. Err, whilst Rhodesia burns. Err, whilst Zimbabwe burns.
And finally, No Amnesty for the death penalty
Here's some thoughts on the subject from Instapundit.
ReplyDeletehttp://instapundit.com/archives2/006827.php
Great comment. Here's some of it from the above link:
ReplyDeleteOur words, images, arguments and skills can’t stop the killing. Only the rough soldiers and their guns can solve the problem, and we won’t admit that fact because the admission would weaken our influence and our claim to social status.
So we pretend Yon’s massacre – and the North Korean killing fields, the Arab treatment of women, the Arab hatred of Israel, etc. - doesn’t exist, and instead focus our emotions and attention on the somewhat-bad domestic things that we can ‘fix’...when we ‘fix’ them, then we get status, applause, power, new jobs, ego, etc.
Only the rough soldiers and their guns can solve the problem...
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. But I personally have no desire to become a rough soldier with a gun, for the sake of "sorting out" Zimbabwe. On that basis, it would hardly be fair of me to expect such sacrifice of my fellow citizens. It's a philosophy the Instapundit authors could feel free to apply to themselves.
I have no desire to work in a sewerage plant, but I'm still going to use the toilet.
ReplyDelete(Sorry, just been over at the Green blog and they do like their sewerage control)
Why don't we try a different analogy then - I think we should have police and get them to arrest the criminals that might rob you and beat you up. I'm happy to pay a bit of tax to ensure you don't lose your Barry Manilow collection or end up in A&E with a sore foot trying to boot them out of your house.
I'll also chip in $10 to arrest Mugabe whilst he is in Rome without all his soldiers. There's a few rough men with guns that would be honoured to help our fellow Zimbabweans in this manner, and I daresay the number of like minded folks that would cough up $10 would make them millionaires.