US Votes Against Human Rights Watchdog!!

mindgames

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Well, after Gitmo and Abu Grahib, kidnapping and torturing innocents in foreign nations, voting to supress evidence of torture and homicide - is it any wonder.

Even if you somehow deny all of the above, can you provide ONE reasson why the US would take such a stance if it had nothing to hide??

All the legislation is for is "to expose human rights abusers......." hmmmmmm, funny they voted against it.

Why did ALL the US allies vote FOR this if it was a bad piece of legislation??

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UN establishes new rights despite US objections

The United Nations General Assembly has created a new UN human rights body by an overwhelming majority, ignoring objections from the United States.

Ambassadors broke out in sustained applause when the vote was announced: 170-4 with three abstentions.

Joining the United States in a "no" vote were Israel, Marshall Islands, and Palau - but not American allies in Europe or Canada.

Belarus, Iran and Venezuela abstained.

As the pre-eminent international rights watchdog, the 47-seat UN Human Rights Council is to expose human rights abusers and help nations draw up rights legislation.

It would replace the 53-country Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission, which in recent years has included some of the world's most notorious rights violators.

US Ambassador John Bolton told the assembly the rules for the new council were not strong enough to prevent rights violators from getting a seat.

But he said the United States would cooperate with the body.

"We did not have sufficient confidence in this text to be able to say that the Human Rights Council will be better than its predecessor," Mr Bolton said.

"That said, the United States will work cooperatively with other member states to make the council as strong and effective as it can be."

Cuba, which had distributed four amendments, voted in favour, although it stated many objections and called the council a creation of the West, which would be used to "unjustly condemn Third World countries".

Its ambassador, Rodrigo Malierca, said, "We were never deceived by the loudmouthed objections of the Washington representatives.

"The text, he said, was "conceived and negotiated behind the scenes to accommodate its demands, sacrificing vital interests of the countries of the south."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan first proposed the new council last year as part of sweeping reforms of the world body.

But his blueprint was watered down in the resolution.

The seats would be distributed among regional groups: 13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, six for Eastern Europe, eight for Latin America and the Caribbean and seven for a block of mainly Western countries, including the United States and Canada.

-Reuters
 

diminuendo

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Simple. The US's objection was that countries with terrible (yes, much worse than us) reccords of abuse like the Sudan are on the council. The US also said that they would support the council, and that their objection was symbolic.
 
bioman

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Dim is correct. The UN has allowed some of the most flagrant human rights violators to manage that board and until that changes, it's hard to give them any respect or credibility. I'm not saying WE should not adhere to better human rights guidelines, I really feel we should clean up our act, but there's an obvious battle going on between the UN and the US with neither side being anything close to innocent.
 

MaynardMeek

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Sudan, Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Burma.. will be running the show.. thats the reasons why... even Iran did not vote in this matter because they also did not agree to their own country being involved lol

Other nations to say no were Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Venezuela, Belarus, UAE
 

DaWarw

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Most people would rather not know about torture and such, but the truth is, the dirty work has to be done to protect the U.S. I'm sure torture has helped us infinitely since the late 1700s. It's just one of those less talked about parts of safety and security.
 

brogers

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The UN's a joke, hopefully we'll pull out of that disaster and stop blowing our money on it.

Why would we vote against it? Because it's a complete sham maybe? Can't wait to see who's on it, probably some real human rights crusaders like Iran, China, Syria, and any of those lovely countries in Africa.
 
Pioneer

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God bless Bubba

City Councilman ejected from studio

T. Bubba Bechtol, part time City Councilman from Midland, TX, was asked
on
a local live radio talk show the other day just what he thought of the
allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his
ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

"If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's scrotum to a car's battery cables
will
save one American GI's life, then I have just two things to say":

"Red is positive"
"Black is negative
 

mindgames

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The UN's a joke, hopefully we'll pull out of that disaster and stop blowing our money on it.

Why would we vote against it? Because it's a complete sham maybe? Can't wait to see who's on it, probably some real human rights crusaders like Iran, China, Syria, and any of those lovely countries in Africa.

Better queue up at the bottom of that ladder - they are amateurs compared to the USA

HISTORY OF USA FOREIGN INVASIONS ,ASSASSINATIONS AND INTEFERENCE IN WORLD AFFAIRS

1960s
US support of Ba'ath Party coup in Iraq in 1963; support for dictator Saddam Hussein until 1990. [19]
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Juan Bosch, the democratically elected leader of the Dominican Republic. [20]
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador in 1963.
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Sukarno in Indonesia in 1965, resulting in estimated death of one million suspected Communists. [21]
Alleged CIA-backed military coup brings dictator Mobutu Sese Seko to power in the Congo in 1965.
Alleged CIA-backed military coup ushers in Regime of the Colonels in Greece in 1967.
American support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War / American support for Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1982 Lebanon War.
U.S. backs assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem (1963). [22]
CIA-orchestrated assassination of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, the US-backed ruler of the Dominican Republic , in 1961 [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]
CIA Involvement in the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico, 1968 [28]
CIA covert support for the election of Eduardo Frei Montalva of Chile in 1964. [29]
1961: CIA involvement in the assassination of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, their former ally in the Dominican Republic. [30] [31]
1962: Alleged CIA involvement in overthrow of Juan Bosch, the democratically elected leader of the Dominican Republic. [32]
1963: Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of José María Velasco Ibarra and after of Carlos Julio Arosemana, both presidents of Ecuador. [33][34][35][36]
1963-64: CIA involvement in riots and violence in order to undermine the Marxist People's Progressive Party and its leader, Cheddi Jagan.
1964: Alleged involvement in riots and violence that brought down the government of Cheddi Jagan in Guyana. [37]
1965: Dominican Republic military officers revolted against the junta to try to restore Juan Bosch, whereupon U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent 20,000 U.S. troops to defeat the revolt so to avoid "another Cuba."
1965: Alleged CIA-backed military coup against Patrice Lumumba that brings dictator Joseph Mobutu to power in the Congo.
1966: Alleged CIA support to military coup against Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah.
1967: Alleged CIA-backed military coup ushers in Regime of the Colonels in Greece.
[edit]
1970s
Alleged CIA-supported coup against Prince Sihanouk in Cambodia and installation of puppet Lon Nol in Cambodia in 1970. [38]
Alleged CIA-supported military coup against President Juan Torres of Bolivia in 1971.
American support for Pakistan in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War
CIA support for UNITA rebels in Angola, from 1976 - 1984.
Following overthrow of the dictator Samosa in Nicaragua by the Sandinistas, the CIA supports the Contras from 1979 - 1989. Nicaragua still has not received the U.S. restitutions for military and paramilitary activities as ruled by the International Court of Justice and as supported by a United Nations General Assembly resolution. [39]
An alternative view was that Allende, who won only 36% of the popular vote, instituted radical policies that led to economic ruin, leading to widespread unrest and a military coup which was watched by the US. [40] [41] [42]
Political and economic intervention in Chile against president Salvador Allende; contacts with military officers planning to overthrow Allende.[43]
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Sukarno and subsequent support of Suharto in Indonesia in 1965. Former officials of the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia acknowledge supplying a list of 5,000 suspected communists -- given to them by the CIA -- to the Indonesian government and checking them off the list when those people were executed. The U.S. government also supplied 90% of Indonesia's military hardware.[44][45] [46]
U.S. backs military rulers of El Salvador (1977). [47]
Bombing campaigns against Cambodia; an estimated 600,000 civilians killed.[48]
CIA support for UNITA rebels in Angola, from 1976 - 1984.
Alleged corruption of 1976 Portuguese Election.
Alleged corruption of 1976 Jamaican Election.
U.S. support for Indonesian invasion and occupation of Portuguese Timor (now East Timor)(1975).[49]
Approval of and support for the "Dirty War" military junta in Argentina. (1976-1983). [50]
Alleged CIA-supported military coup against President Juan José Torres of Bolivia in 1971.[51]
[edit]
1980s
Sale of arms to Iran in Iran–Contra Affair [52]
Training of Nicaraguan Contras and support to repressive regimes in Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and South America during the 1980s.[53]
Alleged involvement in the mysterious death of Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (1986).[54]
Support for military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt in Guatemala. 1982-1983. Alleged CIA support for the coup that brought him into power. [55]
CIA support for José Napoleón Duarte and other anti-Communist politicians alleged to have links with right-wing death squads. [56]
In 1989, The US establishes Support for East European Democracy to help assist Poland and Hungary's transition into market-based democracies. [57]
Alleged support for Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, 1980s. [58]
[edit]
1990s
US-led sanctions against Iraq, resulting in the estimated deaths of over one million civilians, from 1990 to 2003.
US removal of Raoul Cedras from office in Haiti and occupation of the country, 1993 [59]
Corruption of elections in Bulgaria in 1990 and in Albania in 1991. [60] [61]
NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, 1999. Whilst the bombing was widely reported in the US as an "accident", an exposé by the London Observer showed the attack to have been deliberate. [62] [63]
Alleged support for Mexico in fighting the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, 1994 and later [64]
Beginning in December 1989 until 1996 when the Liberian civil war ended, the United States attempted to get UN involved in negotations. The UN refused. Meanwhile, the US provided humanitarian aid, including food and developmental aid.[65]
The FREEDOM Support Act in 1992 amends Support for East European Democracy to include the new independent states of the former Soviet Union to aid their transition into market-based democracies. [66]
Operation Provide Relief, a 1992 US lead humanitarian relief for Somalia. After looting of the aid, it was reorganized as Operation Restore Hope, an American military operation with the support of the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid and restore order to Somalia, that eventually lead to the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. [67]
Operation Infinite Reach: a US cruise missile strike on terrorist bases and targets in Afghanistan and Sudan, including the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory, after al Qaeda bombed two US ebassies in 1998. [68]
[edit]
2000s
Alleged CIA-backed abortive coup against democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in 2002. [69] [70] [71]
Alleged American support for the overthrown of the government of Haiti in 2004
CIA-backed removal of democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office and creation of a military dictatorship in Haiti, 1990 (See Jean-Bertrand Aristide.) [72] [73]
Alleged support (along with Spain and Britain) for a failed coup plot against Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea in 2004. [74] [75]
 

MaynardMeek

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mind games.. thats apples to coconuts.

Majority of over throws had to do with the lack of basic human rights.

You also might want to add in the occupation of France, and the current occupation of Germany that the US is in, and has been in since WW2. Goes along the same lines as you posted.
 

The Experiment

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I think the US was right here.

1) The nations in charge include those committing the worst acts of humanity. Zimbabwe with their mass exodus of white people (not to mention economic hyperinflation and disastrous AIDS epidemics)? Sudan and the Darfur region (which still hasn't been resolved)? These are the countries that need help, not countries that decide who gets help.

2) The UN is so muddled with bureaucracy that things never get done. I think the UN has potential to be a great force to keep everyone under check but there's so many organizations and committees in the UN. I wouldn't doubt that some of them work against each other, although I doubt thats their intention. The UN just isn't effective enough until it cuts through all the layers of BS.
 

MaynardMeek

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Alleged CIA-backed abortive coup against democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in 2002

lol the choices.. Chavez yes, or Chavez sure
 
raider1

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It so funny , we bankroll the UN, and finance these countries ability to rant and rave at our policies on this world stage..

Mindgames .. I have one for ya .. let the US pull our financing of 3rd world countries..next disaster, look to Cuba or Russia , or Sudan , or Iran, or Syria to bankroll the poor helpless people ..The next time there is a murderous regime commiting genocide.. ask France or Germany or China to bail them out..Let Japan or China or Vietnam develop the next miracle cure to fight diseases.. :nutkick:
 
milwood

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If you think about it, and are truly intellectually honest, does anyone really think that whatever abuses you can cite by the US, can even remotely compare to the murder, torture, ethnic-cleansing and routine homicide practiced historically (and even at present) by totalitarian regimes and dictatorships? And if it is so horrible, why are people not flocking to those Utopias?
 

MaynardMeek

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i will jump on the other side right now for min.. what about the domestic round up of japanese americans during ww2.. though they were put in to levit town type areas that even had airconditioning ( which back then was awesome) its still against some sort of human right..... right?
 
Pioneer

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If you think about it, and are truly intellectually honest, does anyone really think that whatever abuses you can cite by the US, can even remotely compare to the murder, torture, ethnic-cleansing and routine homicide practiced historically (and even at present) by totalitarian regimes and dictatorships? And if it is so horrible, why are people not flocking to those Utopias?
thats looking at it logically and correctly, but, im sure you already know, the rest of the world doesn't think like that and will blame the US for anything bad that happens in the world. we could sneeze wrong and get blamed for ruining the envroment or something like that. hell we get blamed for natural disasters like tsunamis and eq's.
 
CDB

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i will jump on the other side right now for min.. what about the domestic round up of japanese americans during ww2.. though they were put in to levit town type areas that even had airconditioning ( which back then was awesome) its still against some sort of human right..... right?
Yes. Also not many Indians left these days, and their treatment at the hands of our government was far worse than the Japanese received.

We are a lot better in our records than most countries, but bottom line is there isn't a nation that exists that doesn't have some blood on its collective hands. We're better than most, maybe even all, but I worry sometimes because people don't seem to realize historically massive human rights abuses have happened here in the US and could happen again. American Exceptionalism needs to be tempered with a little American Realism.
 
Pioneer

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not all torture includes physical violence, their are other much more effective ways.
 

delta314

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The ethics of Torture and general mistreatment of enemy combatants aside, tactically it escalates your opposition's resistance to capture and cooperation therafter , the price of victory becomes much more costly when far fewer combatants will surrender when they think brutal mistreatment awaits them. It also promotes brutality in response to your forces, and sours the general populace to your strategic desire to win hearts and minds to quicker and less costly victory.

There's also the issue of creating a culture of brutality among soldiers and agents who have to return to the society they came from and be peaceable, it's hard to turn that off after it's been on and keep those people in check.

As a law enforcement officer, If I beat on all the suspects who deserved it, a high percentage would react by becoming definetly angry and far harder to work with, if the legislature put the death penalty on more crimes, a larger percentage of criminals would violently resist capture at far greater risk to the police and civilians, and if I pepper gas burn people in prison as a correctional officer I create even more sadistic thugs who will be eventually be released back into society to be a even greater future menace.

Morality aside, it's an operationally two sided sword that will cut back on you if not used wisely.
You can't compare what the CIA does (they are covert and up until recently, have not had to accept responsibility for their actions, or even admit they were involved....) to what law enforcement officers and correctional officers do. We have procedures to follow for different levels of resistance. A police officer doesn't get physical with someone unless they are not obeying a lawful order, or resisting arrest. Pepper spray is used when someone has become combative. If they are assaulting an officer then a baton is warranted. The taser has proved to be an excellent weapon and has decreased the use of deadly force since its inception. Someone that has been pepper sprayed isn't going to be any worse than they were before hand. There are allot of criminals that would rather die than serve life in prison.
You are absolutely correct in your statement about brutality against one side promotes the other side to do the same. The Vietnamese were extremely brutal to the American soldiers that were captured, and this resulted in American soldiers becoming increasingly more brutal toward them.
 

meowmeow

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...but the truth is, the dirty work has to be done to protect the U.S. I'm sure torture has helped us infinitely since the late 1700s.
Your statement only has some veracity if you define "U.S." and "us" as the "Establishment which controls the wealth". If you mean the common man or the "99 percenters" or 'those with less than ten million dollars in liquid wealth' than you are simply incorrect.

The fact that you are so c0cksure that these things are done to benefit you demonstrates that you are susceptible to cradle to grave propaganda of which the American variety fosters the belief that the system is Democratic and that economic advancement is available.
 

BioHazzard

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i will jump on the other side right now for min.. what about the domestic round up of japanese americans during ww2.. though they were put in to levit town type areas that even had airconditioning ( which back then was awesome) its still against some sort of human right..... right?
If it was the Japanese WWII government rounding up Americans born in Japan, do you think those got rounded up would have fared as well? ;)
 

BioHazzard

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not all torture includes physical violence, their are other much more effective ways.
The simple truth is torture as a tool for extracting information, works. It has proven to be effective.

People like to say it does not work or that it generates false intel. But the truth is, real world experience has proven that torture is rather effective in extracting the information you need. It is a function of IF you know how to torture effectively, and IF you have the gut to perform it or not.

OTHO, Half assed, pussy-footing torture of course does not work. :rolleyes:
 

BioHazzard

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I am so truly ashamed of these horrible evil things America has committed ...:D :D

In 1989, The US establishes Support for East European Democracy to help assist Poland and Hungary's transition into market-based democracies. [57]

The FREEDOM Support Act in 1992 amends Support for East European Democracy to include the new independent states of the former Soviet Union to aid their transition into market-based democracies. [66]
Me think some haters are so blinded by irrational hatred, that they lost touch of reality. lol

If you think assiting transition to market based democracies is a bad thing, that can only mean that you are Stalin's little helper. :D
 

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