From
CNN:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush called a human rights report "absurd" for criticizing the United States' detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and said Tuesday the allegations were made by
"people who hate America."
"It's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world," Bush said of the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag.
Emphasis mine, more below the fold.
In the
diary I posted yesterday, I went over how Cheney's "righteous indignation" over the REPORTING of abuse under his watch was followed up by a bait and switch
quote:
"I think the fact of the matter is, the United States has done more to advance the cause of freedom, has liberated more people from tyranny over the course of the 20th century and up to the present day than any other nation in the history of the world," he said.
What Bush and Cheney don't seem to realize is that simply because we (debatably) do something right by spreading freedom, it doesn't make an excuse to turn around and violate human rights.
But instead of owning up to it, taking responsibility for their administration's actions, and holding open, public investigations of the allegations of abuse, they simply deny that this could ever happen in this country and proceed to call anyone that would say such are "people who hate America."
Well, no more shall we let them make a mockery of what's left of our nation's good name. It's time to start writing LTE's, calling local news stations, and discuss with others the fact that we need to call for this Administration to take responsiblity for the abuses that have occurred under their watch and to have them start investigations so it doesn't happen again.
On top of that, we need to start calling our senators and congresspeople on this issue, and make sure this doesn't die during the weeklong break. Keep pressure up on them so that when Congress returns, these calls can be made by government officials as well as the common populace and media.
UPDATE: Thanks to november3rd for this media outlet list:
CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/
Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.plaindealer.com/contact/contact_edit.php
Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/
MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/
Akron Beacon-Journal: http://www.ohio.com/
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://www.ajc.com/
Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/
Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/
Orlando Sentinel: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Philadelphia Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/contact_us/
South Florida Sun-Sentinel: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/sfla-helpindex,0,4600310.htmlstory
MORE MEDIA OUTLETS
Agence France Presse: Agence France Presse
AllAfrica: AllAfrica
Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/about/contact.html
BBC: BBC News
Journalism.org: Journalism.org
PBS: http://www.pbs.org/now/feedback.html
Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/help/feedback/
Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/contactus.pl
C-Span: http://www.c-span.org/about/contact.asp?code=About
MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3303518/
New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#c
ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Reference/story?id=54216
Washington Post: Washington Post
Cincinnati Enquirer: http://www.cincinnati.com/helpdesk/feedback/
Dayton Daily News: http://www.daytondailynews.com/contact/content/service/info/feedback.html
Tallahassee Democrathttp://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/contact_us/
Tampa Bay Online: http://aboutus.tbo.com/aboutus/staff.shtml
The News-Press of Southwest Florida: http://www.news-press.net/CS/customerserv.php?general_contacts=general_contacts.php
Florida Today.com: http://www.floridatoday.com/forms/services/letters.htm
Toledo Blade: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/READERSERVICE02/40108027
USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/marketing/feedback.htm