I think that I have as much respect for _The Economist_, which I read
religiously each week, as anyone on this List - but I must admit that I was
embarassed to read this piece a week or two ago. It is not so much that
_The Economist_ is printing a critique of the Bush Administraiton's
policies on civil liberties - their editorial Board does that regularly
enough - but rather my incredulity that they could find this ridiculousness
worthy of devoting three pages of magazine space to.
First, I hope that it is self-evident to everyone here that when Mr. Hoh
writes that the US has moved from being the most visible supporter of
international human rights to, and I quote, "its most visible outlier" - he
is clearly lacking in all credibility as a sincere appraiser of the
situation. In a world population by such nations as the DPRK, the
People's Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,
Turkmenistan, and Zimbabwe - to call *the United States* the most visible
human rights outlier should leave everyone absolutely speechless.
Meanwhile, Mr. Koh's very understanding of human rights is also suspect.
He frequently hints at international covenants enshrining "freedom from
want" - but to the best of my knowledge, that has pretty much been a
European "human rights" construct, and indeed, the United States has
regularly shied away from codifying such "economic human rights." Mr.
Koh's lack of specifics on this point, other than a vage reference to The
New Deal further confirms my suspicions on this point.
He furthermore accuses the Bush Administration of reducing America's "human
rights presence around the globe" - which I find very difficult believe,
and somehow connects this to Bush's policy of prioritizing "freedom from
fear" above the other fundamental human rights of "freedom of speech,
religion, and from want." (apparentlly freedom of the press and expression
didn't rate for him, among others) I'll concede right now that if you
follow this "logic," you are one step ahead of me.
In addition, given only a short space in which to present his case Mr. Koh
recurringly resorts to very strange examples. For all I know, the
Pakistani population of Atlantic County, NJ has decreased by 50% because
the only Pakistani couple living there got a divorce. At any rate, why
the population of Pakistani immigrants in a single New Jersey county is of
even the remotest interest goes left unsaid.
The examples become a bit more frequent for Mr. Hoh when he seeks to indict
Bush for providing "cover to many foreign governments who want to use
"anti-terrorism" to justify their own crackdowns on human rights." Of
course, one of these examples is of Australia which if you think about Mr.
Hoh's previous statements is just a little bit funny. Is Australia
*really* seeking cover for crackdowns on human rights from the actions of
Mr. Bush? Indeed, if that is a little bit funny, how about the fact
that the other examples of human rights crackdowns come from countries that
have been cracking down on human rights for generations. For example, he
cites the recent three-year extension of Egypt's emergency law, without
ever mentioning that it has been in effect since at least the early 1980's.
Not exactly a lie on Mr. Hoh's part I guess, but not exactly the truth
either. Yet, this is not even Mr. Hoh's worst sin..... Mr. Hoh appears
to sincerely believe that a Chinese regime which has run over unarmed
students with tanks is somehow seeking cover for their policies from the
actions of Mr. Bush. Again, not only does all of this not make sense,
but it is so ludicrous as to call into question Mr. Hoh's credibility.
Lastly, I ask all of you to apply your critical faculties to what is surely
the most absurd of Mr. Koh's statements, even after considering all of the
above.
Mr. Koh, when asked to lay out the one way in which he would have changed
history to prevent what he consideres the diastrous current state of the
affiars - the very first thing that he proposes is that on 12 September
2001 the President of the United States should have immediately scheduled a
photo opportunity at the United Nations.
Yes, Mr. Koh, surely that would have changed everything.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
