More on Amnesty International

Yesterday I called for President Bush to apologize for calling allegations of American human rights violations contained in an Amnesty International human rights report “absurd” and for saying that the allegations contained in the report were made by “people who hate America.”

I stand by this position.

After reading the full transcript – several times – of the President’s press conference, I’m still convinced that he has failed to accept that even those who are critical of the United States governments’ detention of enemy combatants, the use (if not the authorization) of interrogation techniques that violate the UN Convention against Torture, and the numerous other allegations of human rights violations contained in the Amnesty Report are grounded in some reality and that those who made the allegations are entitled to that opinion as well as the right to express that opinion.

It is true that the Amnesty report fails to point out the positives – America has gone to war and has denied human rights protections (as Amnesty would define them) in an effort to liberate hundreds of thousands of individuals who, without US intervention, would continue to be living under two of the world’s most repressive regimes. The detention and interrogation of enemy combatants has, in all likelihood, saved countless lives. I could go on in explaining the report's failings; however, that is not the point.

If as the president claims “the United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world,” he must be willing to extend that freedom to those who are critical of his administration and of the United States. His comments were wrong and they should be retracted.