Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Olympic-sized Irony

In the UK, The Guardian reports:
In a damning criticism of US integrity, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said ministers should no longer take at face value statements from senior politicians, including George Bush, that America does not resort to torture in the light of the CIA admitting it used waterboarding. The interrogation technique was unreservedly condemned by Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who said it amounted to torture.”

Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald comments:
"If Britain -- one of America's closest allies during the Bush era -- is openly proclaiming that it cannot trust the word of our government, then who can? For the British to conclude in a formal Report that the U.S. is essentially an untrustworthy rogue nation when it comes to human rights abuses -- 'The committee's conclusions amount to saying we can no longer rely on assurances from a US administration that purports to uphold the civil and political standards of behaviour,' as MP Andrew Tyrie put it -- is about as potent an indictment of how far we've fallen as one can imagine."

Amid this backdrop, President Dumbass King George actually said the following in a White House send-off of American athletes heading to the Olympics:
"In Beijing you will convey our nation's most cherished values. As ambassadors of liberty, you will represent America's love for freedom and our regard for human rights and human dignity."

Hahahahaha!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

One of the many bright spots in an Obama presidency is the possibility that the rest of the world won't have as much disdain for us as they do now.
There is a lot--decades---of repair work to be done.

Mike said...

I'm surprised Miliband's condemnation didn't get more press, as he is one Britain's most thoughtful ministers, and was also a very close ally of Tony Blair.