et al - It would be nice if AI came clean and told us that their management all contributed the max to Demos. It seems to me it is truth in advertising.

Khan amazingly admitted that "the reason why we are focusing on governments is because we expect the governments to change and to respect the obligations that they have assumed as political actors on the treaties" and adding that "we cannot have the same expectations of the terrorists…" In other words, because the United States and other democracies have signed human rights treaties, Amnesty will hold them to one standard and not expect the terrorists to do the same. There are a number of problems with this approach. First, it's an intellectually feeble response to the threat posed by terrorism. Second, by expecting only one side to act like human beings in the war on terror, Amnesty makes a lie of the claim on its website to be an "impartial" organisation. Third, what this approach also reveals is that groups like Amnesty are not strong on human rights but just soft on terrorism. And fourth, given their approach it is little surprise that democratic governments are taking Amnesty less and less seriously."

If you are going to launch attacks against an administration's polices, it is necessary that you not be seen as a pawn of the other party.

et al - It would be nice if AI came clean and told us that their management all contributed the max to Demos. It seems to me it is truth in advertising.

Since then I have seen nothing but dancing. I must have hit a real nerve.

et al - It would be nice if AI came clean and told us that their management all contributed the max to Demos. It seems to me it is truth in advertising.

"There is no country in the world that has stood for human rights more than the United States. Does that mean that a given soldier in a given situation may have made mistakes? I think some were made at Abu Ghraib, maybe some were made in Guantanamo. Our people are not perfect."

So they're truthful when they serve your purposes, but full of sh$t when they expose your crimes?

Perhaps President Bush has learned from the past.

"Bush used them as his Bible in ramping up the Iraq invasion..."

It would be nice if AI came clean and told us that their management all contributed the max to Demos. It seems to me it is truth in advertising.

From the very earliest days of the new Soviet state, in other words, people were to be sentenced not for what they had done, but for who they were.

Unfortunately, nobody ever provided a clear description of what, exactly, a "class enemy" was supposed to look like. As a result, arrests of all sorts increased dramatically in the wake of the Bolshevik coup. From November 1917, revolutionary tribunals, composed of random "supporters" of the Revolution, began convicting random "enemies" of the Revolution.

Prison sentences, forced-labor terms, and even capital punishment were arbitrarily meted out to bankers, to merchants' wives, to "speculators"--meaning anyone engaged in independent economic activity--to former Czarist-era prison warders and to anyone else who seemed suspicious.

the worst thing that intentionally happened was one book was 'kicked' by one interogator.

the worst thing that intentionally happened was one book was 'kicked' by one interogator.

The US is better, much, much better than the terrorists

Try saying this. AI is supposed to be non-partisan. If the officers of the company are Democratic donors, then any person anywhere with any amount of judgement will know up front that AI has become a Democratic front.

It would be nice if AI came clean and told us that their management all contributed the max to Demos.

What are you lunatics talking about?

"The top leadership of Amnesty International USA, which unleashed a blistering attack last week on the Bush administration’s handling of war detainees, contributed the maximum $2,000 to Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

Federal Election Commission records show that William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty USA, contributed $2,000 to Mr. Kerry’s campaign last year. Mr. Schulz also has contributed $1,000 to the 2006 campaign of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat.

Also, Joe W. “Chip” Pitts III, board chairman of Amnesty International USA, gave the maximum $2,000 allowed by federal law to John Kerry for President. Mr. Pitts is a lawyer and entrepreneur who advises the American Civil Liberties Union.

all the fuss decrying even mentioning the donations when AI head in US confessed to using historically and morally ignorant analogy to get press.

gu·lag also Gu·lag ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gläg) n. A network of forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union. A forced labor camp or prison, especially for political dissidents. A place or situation of great suffering and hardship, likened to the atmosphere in a prison system or a forced labor camp.

I think the misdirection used is on the part of the typical poster here.

If you are going to launch attacks against an administration's polices, it is necessary that you not be seen as a pawn of the other party. They only gave $2K each? That happens to be the maximum.

clay_m, DA - Why don't you look at the links posted by Roger.

It would be nice if AI came clean and told us that their management all contributed the max to Demos.

And why do you continue to argue minor points? We have established what AI has become. You are just discussing price.

Why couldn't AI's Kahn just say:

"The US is much, much, much better than the terrorists. But we are concerned over what we have learned, although we do give them credit for correcting problems and punishing those convicted. We look forward to constructive conversations with US officals to enable us to further our investighations."

now what?

Not one of the illegal enemy combatant detainees who came from Afghanistan had a Qur'an in his possession when captured."

"IT'S ALWAYS SAD when a solid, trustworthy institution loses its bearings and joins in the partisan fracas that nowadays passes for political discourse. It's particularly sad when the institution is Amnesty International,"