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Amnesty International leader: left must join war on terror
http://www.mail-archive.com ^ | Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 06:04:06 -0800 | Louis Proyect

Posted on 12/07/2003 4:32:34 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK

Amnesty International leader: left must join war on terror



Why the antiwar left must confront terrorism
The director of Amnesty International USA warns that the left must confront terror with the same zeal that it battles Bush -- or risk irrelevance.


- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Mark Follman, salon.com

Nov. 15, 2003 | More than two years into the Bush administration's lurching war on terror, William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, is aiming some of his sharpest criticism not at the White House, but at the American political left. His message: Take on the terror threat, or risk irrelevance.

War protesters of various stripes, alongside anti-globalization and human rights activists, have staged several large rallies nationwide this year, channeling their anger at the Bush administration through slogans like "No blood for oil," "End the imperialist occupation" and "Regime change begins at home." But in an interview with Salon, Schulz said that the political left has thus far botched a key mission. "There's been a failure to give the necessary attention, analysis and strategizing to the effort to counter terrorism and protect our fundamental right to security," he said. "It's a serious problem."


In his new book, "Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the Ruin of Human Rights," Schulz argues that rising global terrorism requires the left "to rethink some of our most sacred assumptions." A vigorous defense of human and civil liberties, while essential to spreading democracy worldwide, is not enough to stop terrorists from blowing up airplanes or shopping malls, he says. And that presents the left with a problem, because some of the tools needed to fight terror, such as stricter border controls or beefed up intelligence work -- and, perhaps, war against states that support terrorists -- chafe against traditional leftist values.


But protecting America's borders as well as its treasured freedoms is a daunting task. There is ample reason to decry (as Amnesty has) the deeply invasive potential of the PATRIOT Act, the secretive rounding up and prolonged detention of more than 1,200 Arabs and Muslims nationwide, and the alleged coercion -- some would call it torture -- of terror suspects by the U.S. government. Of equal concern is Washington's current distaste for multilateral diplomacy, which puts crucial alliances at risk at a time of mounting global turmoil. But it's not enough, Schulz says, to launch defiant rhetoric at a barreling, unilateralist Bush administration, even when its policies threaten to bulldoze the very cornerstones of democracy.

He raises some hard questions: If there's reason to believe the New York City subway is a prime terrorist target, should we really object to surveillance cameras in the name of privacy rights, especially if use of the evidence they obtain is limited? If democratic elections would bring a radical Islamist government to power in Pakistan that might distribute nuclear weapons to terrorists, should we still call for democracy there over military rule?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: amnestyinternational; theleft; williamschulz; wot
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1 posted on 12/07/2003 4:32:35 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
Ten bucks says they end up debating which side to join.
2 posted on 12/07/2003 4:33:48 PM PST by TheBigB (Pick-up line made famous by James T. Kirk: "Wanna see the Captain's Log?")
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To: GRRRRR; RedBloodedAmerican; Ragtime Cowgirl; mhking; anniegetyourgun; Howlin; ...
I think this guys on Oreilly tonight
3 posted on 12/07/2003 4:34:21 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
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To: TheBigB
Ditto's
4 posted on 12/07/2003 4:35:18 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
The director of Amnesty International USA warns that the left must confront terror with the same zeal that it battles Bush -- or risk irrelevance.

*reads above*
*clutches chest*
*falls to floor*
(...medic!...)

5 posted on 12/07/2003 4:37:45 PM PST by Prime Choice (Conservative: One who doesn't believe that turning the U.S. into a third-world nation is 'progress'.)
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To: TheBigB
I'll see your $10 bet and raise you $20 that they'll work on an angle so they can blame terrorism on the United States!

And for some comic relief, check this out...

http://www.sacredcowburgers.com/fresh/showpics.cgi?shamnesty_international

6 posted on 12/07/2003 4:40:05 PM PST by Prime Choice (Conservative: One who doesn't believe that turning the U.S. into a third-world nation is 'progress'.)
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To: Prime Choice
*reads above*
*clutches chest*
*falls to floor*

Glad i had my heart pills and resperator !

7 posted on 12/07/2003 4:40:52 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
I wonder how much of this is moved by genuine concern about the problem of terrorism, and how much by the thought that leftists risk losing political power if they push their pet peeves too far?
8 posted on 12/07/2003 4:42:03 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
The left won't listen. Ha,Ha.
9 posted on 12/07/2003 4:42:15 PM PST by expatpat
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
This Amnesty Intl guy needs to wake up. The left has decided which side to join and they are, in fact, the terrorists themselves.

They may not be the ones who are actually blowing themselves up but a large part of the left are the ones who are supplying, supporting, chanting, demonstrating, and fronting for the terrorists. That makes them one and same in my book.

Believe me, the left has chosen which side they're on and it's not ours.
10 posted on 12/07/2003 4:44:35 PM PST by fightin kentuckian
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
If this man ends up being excoriated by the Left, then he's the real deal. George Orwell, Albert Camus and David Horowitz to name a few, were simply too intelligent to swallow nonsense past a certain point and broke ranks. To paraphrase Evel Knievel, they didn't mind being called crazy but they did mind being taken for fools.

Let's wait and see.
11 posted on 12/07/2003 4:45:04 PM PST by wretchard
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To: Cicero
I wonder how much of this is moved by genuine concern about the problem of terrorism, and how much by the thought that leftists might someday have the reins of that power in THEIR hands.
12 posted on 12/07/2003 4:47:03 PM PST by tet68
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To: fightin kentuckian
Leftists are enablers of evil.
13 posted on 12/07/2003 4:50:51 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY (((Former Leftist who knows)))
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To: wretchard
"George Orwell, Albert Camus and David Horowitz to name a few, were simply too intelligent to swallow nonsense past a certain point and broke ranks."

Not to mention more than a few Freepers, many of whom (including myself) were on the Left in their younger days.
14 posted on 12/07/2003 4:52:42 PM PST by Steve_Seattle ("Above all, shake your bum at Burton.")
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To: tet68
"....in THEIR hands.." LOL

Is Bono still a principal at Amnesty Intl?

15 posted on 12/07/2003 4:52:57 PM PST by txhurl
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
What has changed is that war is no longer state against state, but one individual, with today's technology, can wreak as much havoc against a state as another state could in the past. The number of people that one individual can kill has changed. That is why individual rights have been compromised. (And don't let anyone tell you we can have both: it's a trade-off.) Seems obvious but either the left doesn't get it or they are pretending not to.
16 posted on 12/07/2003 4:53:56 PM PST by firebrand
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
This is so typical. The Left thinks it's all a game of strategy, like Risk or something. Nothing these people do or say is ever genuine. Believe their pablum at the risk of a large back wound.
17 posted on 12/07/2003 5:20:16 PM PST by Indie (We were warned. My people perish for lack of knowledge.)
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To: Steve_Seattle
>Not to mention more than a few Freepers, many of whom >including myself) were on the Left in their younger days.

Same here, but I grew up. As most do.
18 posted on 12/07/2003 5:27:27 PM PST by sunryse
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
Sheesh, all the guy is doing is trying to sell a book. He knows nobody on the left will buy it no matter what he says. But it could be a best seller with a few of the "right statements.

Bingo, a crossover best seller.

Now, back to business as usual.

19 posted on 12/07/2003 5:27:50 PM PST by There's millions of'em (Bill Clinton was a great Democrat President)
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To: TheBigB
Ten bucks says they end up debating which side to join.

Ten bucks says they hate Bush so much this guy will be ignored and there won't be any debate.

20 posted on 12/07/2003 5:28:03 PM PST by GATOR NAVY
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