Gitmo, Russia, and China : What’s at Stake

Last week three human rights episodes played out in Russia, China, and America. These events show us how America stacks up against the rest of the world.The world saw the resurgent danger of the old Soviet Union in the modern Russian Federation this past week the Russian military forces invaded the sovereign neighboring nation of Georgia. Although Russia claims to be aiding people in the disputed Georgian province of South Ossetia, the reality is that covert Russian agents have been fomenting upheaval, and Russia had been moving forces into place for this invasion.Prime Minister Putin is taking Russia back to an autocratic government. Political opponents are being jailed, critics silenced, strategic assets seized. The bear has returned.Mr. Putin is also using this to send a message. His message to Europe is that the Russian bear will maul any who oppose it.Senator McCain was right to criticize President Bush’s 2001 claim to have looked into Mr. Putin’s soul and seen a friend. As Mr. McCain says, when he looks into Mr. Putin’s eyes he sees three letters: KGB.Last week we saw a quieter version of authoritarian oppression in China. First the White House press corps was detained for several hours at the Beijing airport, missing President Bush’s first event because the Chinese government wanted to inspect every piece of reporters’ equipment.China’s refusal to grant entry to the games for an American athlete who was an outspoken advocate of human rights, and also in expelling three Americans for speaking about human rights in Tiananmen Square. All this of course justifies Mr. Bush’s remarks in Taiwan before the games, condemning China’s human rights abuses.On a less prominent note, we see how China tried to rid Beijing of smog to provide nice visuals during the games: just shut down the private sector. The Chinese government ordered factories closed, banned millions of people from driving, and took other steps to create a picture-perfect setting. How would the American people, and press, react if our government essentially ordered millions of people to be temporarily out of work? The protests would be deafening, and, of course, our Constitution would not allow it.Yet in a story that’s already been forgotten, America reaffirmed its commitment to human rights last week in the Hamdan trial. A military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay acquitted Salim Hamdan of one of the two charges against him — a conspiracy charge. In convicting him of supporting terrorism, the military judge, a Navy captain, gave him less than six years in prison and counted the time Hamdan already had served in prison, which means he could go free early next year.The press refused to carry the most obvious point of that story: military tribunals work. These are not show trials; Hamdan beat one charge, and could be out of prison soon. Although the press usually didn’t mention anything beyond this man being Osama bin Laden’s driver, Hamdan had two surface-to-air missiles in his car trunk that he was transporting across an international border when he was arrested. This fellow may well be a very bad actor.Yet when freedom’s at stake, America errs on the side of liberty and leniency. In Russia or China, Hamdan would either be imprisoned for life without a trial or executed.This outcome was not ordered by the Supreme Court. It did not happen in a habeas petition, and was not from a civilian federal judge. This was a military court, set up by Congress pursuant to requests from President Bush in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, held at Gitmo.Serving as a U.S. ambassador for human rights to the United Nations, I traveled to dozens of countries. Russia and China show how much of the world works, with human rights abuses that are either violent and deadly, or restrained by oppressive regimes.America, by contrast, is the light. Nowhere else in the world will you find a country of such vast power with such formidable warriors where our leaders are willing to fight to protect the innocent and where the government shows restraint and a commitment to just treatment even at risk to ourselves.China and Russia showed Americans how human rights and human lives can be easily discarded by would-be super powers. The actions of these two nations make complaints about Gitmo seem overblown.Mr. Blackwell is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.

Gitmo, Russia, and China : What’s at Stake

Gitmo, Russia, and China : What’s at Stake

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