Amnesty International Hits Bottom, Digs

Wed, May 26, 2004 at 8:59:56 am PDT

According to Amnesty International, the United States is the worst violator of human rights in the world: Amnesty slams ‘bankrupt’ vision of US in damning human rights report. (Hat tip: Beagle.)

LONDON (AFP) - The United States has proved “bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle” in its fight against terrorism and invasion of Iraq, Amnesty International charged.

In its 2004 report on the state of human rights around the globe, the London-based group cited grave violations in dozens of other nations.

But it targeted in particular the “war on terror” initiated by US President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001 for sanctioning human rights abuses in the name of freedom.

The unilateral nature of the conflict to unseat Saddam Hussein in Iraq had additionally “virtually paralyzed” the United Nations’ role in guaranteeing human rights on a global level, the Amnesty report said Wednesday.

The 339-page document, detailing the human rights situation in 157 nations and territories, reserved the most column inches for the United States, with almost as many critical words also meted out to Russia and China.