Did Amnesty International Call For Kidnapping Of American Leaders?

Captain's Quarters ^ | June 9, 2005

[John Jorsett]

John Leo wrote earlier this week about the ridiculous Amnesty International assertion that Guantanamo Bay has become the "gulag of our time" in the statement issued by AI's Secretary-General Irene Khan, in his column about Stories Not Told. The "gulag" analogy has received the thorough thrashing it deserved from bloggers and even some in the media.

However, according to Leo at the end of his column, AI also issued a press release accompanying their annual report that the media mostly ignored. In that release, Amnesty International apparently called for other nations to kidnap George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and other American officials and haul them off to the ICC for prosecution on charges of crimes against humanity:

A different omission marred the reporting of Amnesty International's report charging torture in U.S. detainment camps. The group didn't just call Guantanamo a "gulag," an over-the-top remark that was universally reported. In a press release that most reporters ignored, the group also invited foreign governments to snatch certain visiting American officials off the streets and bring them to trial for crimes against humanity. The suggested snatchees, should they travel abroad, were President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA Director George Tenet, and other unnamed civilian and military officials. Amnesty International said that "all states have a responsibility to investigate and prosecute people responsible for these crimes," just as the British pounced on Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998. The snatching recommendation wasn't new, but the Amnesty press release is a useful reminder of the dangers of signing on to the International Criminal Court.

Perhaps this has received wide release and I just missed it, but this is the first report I've seen in the American media of such a call. I have been unable to find the press release itself, but I have found plenty of approving references to the statement from left-wing websites such as Common Dreams, TruthOut, and Antiwar.com. According to Common Dreams, AI's chief of their American bureau said the following:

Speaking at the release of Amnesty's annual report, William Schulz charged that Washington has become ''a leading purveyor and practitioner'' of torture and ill-treatment and that senior officials should face prosecution by other governments for violations of the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

Among those officials, Schulz named Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet, and senior officers at U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib, Iraq.

''If the U.S. government continues to shirk its responsibility, Amnesty International calls on foreign governments to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating all senior U.S. officials involved in the torture scandal,'' said Schulz, who added that violations of the torture convention, which has been ratified by the United States and some 138 other countries, can be prosecuted in any jurisdiction.

''If those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them,'' he added. ''The apparent high-level architects of torture should think twice before planning their next vacation to places like Acapulco or the French Riviera because they may find themselves under arrest as (former Chilean dictator) Augusto Pinochet famously did in London in 1998.''

That's quite a stringent call coming from AI -- a demand that foreign governments ignore diplomatic immunity and seize traveling officials from the United States, in order to put them on trial in a kangaroo court. I wonder, did Schulz make the same demand about Fidel Castro, Kim Jong-Il, the Iranian mullahs, or any of the other dictators around the world that really do practice torture on their own populations, or worse. Apparently not; Amnesty only unleashes its venom on freely elected leaders, a rather cowardly act masquerading as telling truth to power.

These revelations absolutely destroy any credibility for AI as a nonpartisan, independent organization dedicated to human rights. It has sold itself out as yet another tiresome, radical Leftist screaming machine with double standards so ridiculous that their very scope amounts to self-satire. (hat tip: CQ reader Stoo Pid)

UPDATE: Here's the link to AI-USA's statement with this call for capturing US officials while traveling abroad (hat tip: CQ reader Joe Z):

If the US government continues to shirk its responsibility, Amnesty International calls on foreign governments to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating all senior US officials involved in the torture scandal. And if those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them. The apparent high-level architects of torture should think twice before planning their next vacation to places like Acapulco or the French Riviera because they may find themselves under arrest as Augusto Pinochet famously did in London in 1998. ...

Amnesty International’s list of those who may be considered high-level torture architects includes Donald Rumsfeld, who approved a December 2002 memorandum that permitted such unlawful interrogation techniques as stress positions, prolonged isolation, stripping, and the use of dogs at Guantanamo Bay; William Haynes, the Defense Department General Counsel who wrote that memo, and Douglas Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, who is cited in the memo as concurring with its recommendations.

Our list includes Major General Geoffrey Miller, Commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, whose subordinates used some of the approved torture techniques and who was sent to Iraq where he recommended that prison guards “soften up” detainees for interrogations; former CIA Director George Tenet, whose agency kept so-called “ghost detainees” off registration logs and hidden during visits by the Red Cross and whose operatives reportedly used such techniques as water-boarding, feigning suffocation, stress positions, and incommunicado detention.

And it includes Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who called the Geneva Conventions “quaint” and “obsolete” in a January 2002 memo and who requested the memos that fueled the atrocities at Abu Ghraib; Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, former Commander of US Forces in Iraq, and Sanchez’ deputy, Major General Walter Wojdakowsi, who failed to ensure proper staff oversight of detention and interrogation operations at Abu Ghraib, according to the military’s Fay-Jones report, and Captain Carolyn Wood, who oversaw interrogation operations at Bagram Air Base and who permitted the use of dogs, stress positions and sensory deprivation.

But it doesn't include Robert Mugabe, Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro, Bashar Assad, etc etc etc.

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers! And also Michelle Malkin's readers, too!

UPDATE III and BUMP: More of an addendum, really. It seems to me that this rhetoric is much more offensive than the "gulag" analogy, and it represents a Rubicon of sorts for Amnesty International and its supporters. I think those who fund AI and align themselves politically with Schulz and its other leaders should be pressed to answer whether they support Schulz' call for the kidnapping of American officials traveling abroad. It's a simple question and demands a straightforward answer. Those who refuse to disavow themselves of their association or support of Amnesty International on this basis will reveal themselves as radicals who will sacrifice American interests for momentary global approbation.

We elect our leaders, and we hold them accountable. Moreover, when we send our leaders abroad to interact with leaders of other countries, we expect those countries to extend normal diplomatic status, or to warn in advance when that status will not be extended. Violating that status by imprisoning our leaders and diplomats is an act of war against the United States. Those joining in Amnesty International's call for other nations to commit an act of war against us should be held politically accountable for their position.

[CondorFlight]

How about arresting the AI leaders for proposing the commission of crimes (such as kidnapping, assaulting the President, etc.)?

Is there a statute forbidding those things? Is AI part of a conspiracy to kidnap the president, and is it inviting participation in such a plot?

Is that legal?

[Cicero]

Well, several Hollywood stars and several "main stream" media sources have also called for Bush's assassination.

I'm not sure why these incidents are not treated more seriously. When clintbilly was in office he used to order people into custody at the drop of a hat for showing disrespect.

[hipaatwo]

I'm speachless

[spetznaz]

Ridiculous! Amnesty International has the time to speak of 'gulags,' yet while TRUE atrocities are going on in the world they stand still and do nothing. Where were they while almost a million died in Rwanda? Where are they as the death toll in the Congo (perpetuated by the dregs that fled from Rwanda) kill close to 1.3 million? Where are they in the two Sudan situations (the unspoken Arab slaughter/enslavement of Christian southerners; as well as the more popular Darfur case)?

Yet they have the time to yelp about Gitmo, and calling it a gulag! Hmmm, Gitmo does not even fit the description of what a 'gulag' is. Not even close.

Anyways, here is the ironic mission statement of Amnesty International. Quite ironic: Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. In pursuit of this vision, AI’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. AI is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights. AI has a varied network of members and supporters around the world. At the latest count, there were more than 1.8 million members, supporters and subscribers in over 150 countries and territories in every region of the world. Although they come from many different backgrounds and have widely different political and religious beliefs, they are united by a determination to work for a world where everyone enjoys human rights. AI is a democratic, self-governing movement. Major policy decisions are taken by an International Council made up of representatives from all national sections. AI’s national sections and local volunteer groups are primarily responsible for funding the movement. No funds are sought or accepted from governments for AI’s work investigating and campaigning against human rights violations.

[Dad yer funny]

bookmk ping , and I'm aghast!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Time to declare Amnesty International a Terrorists Organization.....

And there is this:

*********************************************************

Unholy Alliance
by David Horowitz
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 089526076X
Hardcover - 256 pages (September 2004)

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. This Left, which once made common cause with Communists, has now joined forces with radical Islam in attacking America’s defenses at home and its policies abroad. From their positions of influence in the university and media culture, leftists have defined America as the “root cause” of the attacks against it. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, writes John Haynes, the noted historian of American Communism, “is an insightful, brilliant examination of the mental world of the radical left. Horowitz shows how today’s radicals, unwilling to reflect on the internal flaws that destroyed Marxism-Leninism from within, have embraced an all-consuming nihilism in its place. This has led them to a hatred of American institutions and a solidarity with Islamic terrorists that makes the radical left more properly regarded as dangerous than loony.”

Unholy Alliance is an eye-opening book that should unsettle conventional assumptions and reveals why intellectuals and political leaders who applaud Michael Moore are no laughing matter. As Harvey Klehr, author of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, writes, “The world Communist movement may be moribund, but its habits of mind and ideological fantasies have not disappeared. This is a fascinating and depressing account.”

Price: $19.01 - Click here to order:

[sono]

AI just yelled fire in a crowded theater. Alert the FBI.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Amnesty only unleashes its venom on freely elected leaders, a rather cowardly act masquerading as telling truth to power.

Just so.

[Just another Joe]

I would suggest that if ANY country kidnapped that senior of a government official, and was stupid enough to let it be known, THAT country would immediately face an invasion by the armed forces of the United States of America.

[microgood]

Sounds like the Secret Service needs to pay a visit to Amnesty International.

[Calpernia]

Amnesty International calls for capturing US officials while traveling abroad

[Beckwith]

Isn't Amnesty International encouraging the violation of thousand year old law, custom and tradition by suggesting that persons with diplomatic immunity be seized?

Wouldn't that be an act of war?

I can just see a return of the Screaming Eagles to Belgium. Only this time they won't be shooting at NAZIs.

[No.6]

Yes, they would...

[Calpernia]

bump

[Deb]

Google William Schulz and you'll find out he is a past board member of People For the American Way, Planned Parenthood and Americans United for Separation of Church and State among others.

He's nothing more than a typical left-wing, anti-Republican Democrat.

We should demand his bio be read before anyone in the press quotes him or gives him any notice.

[DManA]

You're right. It would be an unprovoked act of war.

[RonF]

Amnesty International has just figured out how to get the U.S.'s armed forces out of Iraq. They'd simply gear up, get on planes, and go to whatever country kidnapped any of our elected or appointed officials.

[sauropod]

Schultz was made a complete fool of on FNS last Sunday.

I taped it. Delicious to behold!

[sauropod]

Good info.

I had the intuition about him, but you've brought the truth out.

Thx, Deb!