It seems like I’m always blathering on about the hypocrisy of George Bush and his conservative pals, neo and otherwise; that’s because there’s just so much of it.
And I’m not just talking about the rhetorical hypocrisy of a president who gives a speech about exporting freedom… while standing in the middle of the a city that has experienced an unprecedented level of control, closure, and… well, lack of freedom.
Anyway. How about this for real, tangible hypocrisy:
President Bush’s soaring rhetoric today that the United States will promote the growth of democratic movements and institutions worldwide is at odds with the administration’s increasingly close relations with repressive governments in every corner of the world.
Some of the administration’s allies in the war against terrorism — including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan — are ranked by the State Department as among the worst human rights abusers. The president has proudly proclaimed his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin while remaining largely silent about Putin’s dismantling of democratic institutions in the past four years. The administration, eager to enlist China as an ally in the effort to restrain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, has played down human rights concerns there as well.
… Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, was struck by the fact that Bush mentioned “liberty” repeatedly but did not use the phrase “human rights” as an overriding goal.
“The decision to speak in terms of liberty instead of human rights was deliberate,” Roth said. “Liberty is an abstract concept, but human rights bind everyone, including the Bush administration. It’s easy to say I’m for liberty but difficult to say I’m for human rights when he’s overseeing what we know is a conscious policy of coercive interrogation, including inhuman treatment and sometimes torture.
