Do As I Say...
Not as I do. George Bush on his visit to Asia today urged China to look to Taiwan as a model of, among other things, openness and human rights. Under the current climate, however, this is only likely to send the Chinese sniggering behind their hands.
As George was exhorting, it emerged that there's even more torture and abuse going on than we were aware of. Not to mention a bit of Willie Pete going around.
The problem with this is not just the fact that the US continues to turn a blind eye to rough stuff in the cells and uses munitions that some might describe as 'chemical'. Not that it should be condoned or encouraged but this kind of stuff goes on in war. War is bad and bad things happen.
The problem is that in order for the US to appear in a position of world leadership, as it would claim to be, and make pronouncements on human rights outside its own jurisdiction it needs to be whiter then white. Events in Iraq simply hand carte blanche to those regimes such as China which really do have institutionalised human rights abuses.
