Amnesty International's Selective Outrage

Amnesty International's website has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to say about the torture and murders of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Oregon.

From the Associated Press:

U.S. forces on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two American soldiers reported captured by insurgents last week. An Iraqi defense ministry official said the men were tortured and "killed in a barbaric way." Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them.

The claim was made in a Web statement that could not be authenticated. The language in the statement suggested the men were beheaded.

U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

He said U.S. troops _ part of a search involving some 8,000 American and Iraqi forces _ found the bodies late Monday near Youssifiyah, where they disappeared Friday.

Troops did not recover the bodies until Tuesday because they had to wait until daylight to cordon off the area for an ordnance team for fear it was booby-trapped, Caldwell said.

The checkpoint attacked Friday was in the Sunni Arab region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes there of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops. Caldwell said troops encountered a lot of roadside bombs and other explosives during the three-day search, including in the area where the bodies were found.

...The director of the Iraqi defense ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.

The claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al-Qaida in Iraq. The group posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the American soldiers captive.

"We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.

"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.

The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.

"With God Almighty's blessing."

That is sick beyond words.

What is also sick is the hypocrisy of so-called human rights organizations that don't say a word about the torture of Americans.

So what is the lead story receiving AI's attention today?

"Partners in crime: Europe's role in US renditions"

Europe's governments have repeatedly denied their complicity in the US programme of "renditions" – an unlawful practice in which numerous men have been illegally detained and secretly flown to third countries, where they have suffered additional crimes including torture and enforced disappearance.

As evidence of this programme has come to light, however, it has become clear that many European governments have adopted a “see no evil, hear no evil” approach when it comes to rendition flights using their territory and that some states have been implicated in individual cases. These states include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Turkey and EU members Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK.

Without Europe's help, some men would not now be held without charge or trial, in abusive conditions, in Egypt, Syria and Guantánamo. Without information from European intelligence agencies, some of the men may not have been abducted. Without access to Europe's airport facilities and airspace, CIA planes would have found it harder to transport their human cargo. In short, Europe has been the USA's partner in crime.

The impact on both the victims of renditions and their families has been devastating.
At the EU Summit 15-16 June in Brussels leaders of EU states must take a clear and public stance against renditions and at the EU-US Summit 21 June in Vienna they must ensure that the EU reiterate this stance with the USA.

Amnesty International claims to be "working to protect human rights worldwide."

That's a lie.

It's a group that is working to promote an anti-American agenda.

It's a mouthpiece for al Qaeda and animals like Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.

In terms of undermining the United States and the troops, AI is in the same league as John Murtha, Dick Durbin, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, etc.

It echoes the Dems' talking points.

Amnesty International is a disgrace.

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Another disgrace--

Ken MacKenzie, uncle of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, had the gall to politicize his nephew's death on NBC's Today show this morning.

DALLAS (AP) -- The uncle of a U.S. soldier who disappeared after a firefight in Iraq lashed out at the government Tuesday after learning two bodies had reportedly been found not far from where his nephew and another soldier were last seen.

"The news is going to be heartbreaking for my family," Ken MacKenzie, uncle of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, told NBC's "Today" show. "Because the U.S. government did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid for it with his life," he said.

..."I think the U.S. government was too slow to react to this," MacKenzie said. "They should have had a plan in place."

MacKenzie said the government should have offered a $100 million reward and offered to exchange mujahideen detainees for the soldiers' lives. It seized enough money from Saddam Hussein to afford it, he said.

How disgusting!

The bodies are so disfigured that DNA tests are necessary to confirm their identities. Nevertheless, before his nephew has been positively identified, MacKenzie goes on national TV to bash Bush and the U.S.

Really sick.