Free Republic

President Bush signed legislation banning the sale or import of diamonds that are, according to the Kimbereley Process, illegitimate. While supporters claim that they are supporting human rights, all this law would do is destroy much of the funding of insurgent groups (in several cases, pro-freedom former allies), no matter how just their cause or how honorable their conduct, while securing valuable resources for whatever government in power, regardless of how well proven their ties to communism or how well proven the fact that they have brutally murdered tens of thousands of innocent people. President Bush said, "Conflict diamonds have...

I just found out about this law a few days ago. It has already passed the House and Senate. According to www.geocities.com/larson_walker/body_conflictdiamonds.html President Bush also supports this law. I oppose this law because if I understand correctly it would place diamonds under the control of whatever government currently in power. I have read that in Angola, a diamond-rich country, the Marxist MPLA government seized control by killing elected UNITA officials, election negotiators, activists, and supporters in 1992. The MPLA government, I believe, has not allowed any fair elections since. The UNITA freedom fighters have been accused frequently of committing atrocities...