to Amnesty International. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week or so, you know why.
PS - Don’t bother replying with stuff about how Amnesty Intl. “hates America” or singles the US out in any way. They provide a vital service that looks at and documents abuses around the world, so they aren’t “picking on us”.
the president contradicts himself again.
From a story regarding stem cell research and the threat of a veto from the president:
“I’ve made it very clear… the use of federal money, taxpayers’ money, to promote science which destroys life in order to save life, I’m against that,” he told reporters.
Foreign policy that has the same stated purpose (whether or not it’s true), however, is apparently OK.
… recently at Calvin College. Karl Rove, seeking a friendly venue for a commencement speech in Michigan, approached Calvin and offered President Bush as the speaker. The college, which had already invited Nicholas Wolterstorff of Yale to deliver the speech, hastily disinvited him and welcomed the president. But the White House apparently was not counting on the reaction of students and faculty. Rove expected the evangelical Christian college in the dependable “red” area of western Michigan to be a safe place. He was wrong.
The day the president was to speak, an ad featuring a letter signed by one-third of Calvin’s faculty and staff ran in The Grand Rapids Press. Noting that “we seek open and honest dialogue about the Christian faith and how it is best expressed in the political sphere,” the letter said that “we see conflicts between our understanding of what Christians are called to do and many of the policies of your administration.”
The letter asserted that administration policies have “launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq,” “taken actions that favor the wealthy of our society and burden the poor, ” “harmed creation and have not promoted long-term stewardship of our natural environment,” and “fostered intolerance and divisiveness and has often failed to listen to those with whom it disagrees.” It concluded: “Our passion for these matters arises out of the Christian faith that we share with you. We ask you, Mr. President, to re-examine your policies in light of our God-given duty to pursue justice with mercy….” One faculty member told a reporter, “We are not Lynchburg. We are not right wing; we’re not left wing. We think our faith trumps political ideology.”
On commencement day, according to news reports, about a quarter of the 900 graduates wore “God is not a Republican or a Democrat” buttons pinned to their gowns. - Jim Wallis
I urge everyone to please read this excellent transcript.
George Galloway puts the U.S. in its place, regarding Iraq; here are some notable quotes from Mr. Galloway:
Now I know that standards have slipped in the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice. I am here today but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question, without ever having contacted me, without ever written to me or telephoned me, without any attempt to contact me whatsoever. And you call that justice.
I have had two meetings with Saddam Hussein, once in 1994 and once in August of 2002. By no stretch of the English language can that be described as “many meetings” with Saddam Hussein.
As a matter of fact, I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to let Dr Hans Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country - a rather better use of two meetings with Saddam Hussein than your own Secretary of State for Defense made of his.
I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein when British and Americans governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas. I used to demonstrate outside the Iraqi embassy when British and American officials were going in and doing commerce.
You will see from the official parliamentary record, Hansard, from the 15th March 1990 onwards, voluminous evidence that I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do and than any other member of the British or American governments do.
Now, Senator, I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted. I gave my political life’s blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq which killed one million Iraqis, most of them children, most of them died before they even knew that they were Iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were Iraqis with the misfortune to born at that time. I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies.
I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.
Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.
In a clear violation of international law, two Iraqi women are arrested and a note was left behind stating “Be a man Muhammad Mukhlif and give yourself up and then we will release your sisters. Otherwise they will spend a long time in detention.” It was signed “Bandit 6″, apparently U.S. army code, possibly designating a company commander. When Reuters called a mobile phone number left on the note, an American who said he was a soldier appeared to be aware of Batawi’s accusation but declined further comment. [more here]
Well, apparently this tactic is seen (but thankfully recognized for what it is) not just in America.
“This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous,” he said during a press conference with European leaders. “Having said that, all options are on the table.” - Pres. Bush this week
Bush vowed the United States would continue to “consult with people who share our interest to make the world a safer place.” He also said his administration would “look at all options” on how to deal with Iraq, including “all technologies available to us and diplomacy and intelligence.” - Pres. Bush, 2002
It’s an open letter response to a criticism from Chuck Colson. I encourage everyone to read it (the response), as I think he does a much better job of communicating some of the political positions that I’ve posted about on here before.
Read More
EU sees no chance US to accept international court - Reuters
BRUSSELS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The United States will never accept a newly established International Criminal Court and the European Union should recognise that and seek practical solutions, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said on Wednesday.
“I don’t think we’re going to make any progress. The sentiments are very profound in the United States, that fellow citizens cannot be judged by a court that is not American,” Javier Solana told Reuters in an interview.