Anybody who truly cares about human rights or holds any legitimate concern for the perception of the United States abroad should arbore the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” –what many have called torture–of President George W. Bush’s administration. Few would disagree that waterboarding, for example, is a form of torture. The disagreement is generally about whether or not such techniques are justified.
They are not. Particularly when such techniques are carried out by the beacon of democracy and human rights that the United States has claimed to be for generations. But as any human rights activist will explain, torture is torture, no matter who authorizes it or who carries it out. That is what makes the statement released by Amnesty International on December 1st about bringing former president Bush to justice for his torturous ways more than a little ironic.
According to the organization’s senior legal advisor Matt Pollard “International law requires that there be no safe haven for those responsible for torture; Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia must seize this opportunity to fulfill their obligations and end the impunity George W. Bush has so far enjoyed.”
Where the irony comes in to play is when you think about the countries that Amnesty is asking to “seize the opportunity” and arrest the former president: Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia–the three African nations that Bush is traveling through now to promote efforts to fight cervical and breast cancer. Each one of these nations has a long history of human rights abuses against their own citizens. Abuses that Amnesty International itself has often pointed out. In Tanzania, for example, Amnesty notes that there have been “reports of unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment by the police” throughout the country. And last year Human Rights Watch reported that Zambia was systematically torturing inmates in prisons across the nation. The worst offender, however, is Ethiopia. Once again, Amnesty International’s own report illustrates that the East African nation is rife with political violence. Opposition leaders there are regularly jailed and beaten without cause.
While nobody can excuse the former president’s authorization of torture during his administration, it is remarkably ironic that Amnesty International would call on the torturous nations of Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia to bring him to justice.