Dutch Lawmakers Offended by Rep. Lantos

[rodeodance]

Source: ap

October 27, 2007
Dutch Lawmakers Offended by Rep. Lantos
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:43 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dutch lawmakers who visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison this week said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat.

The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that ''Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay.''

Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, was responding to arguments that the United States should shut down the prison, located on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the lawmakers said. Mariko Peter, a member of the Dutch Green Party, who began the exchange with Lantos, said she took notes of the remarks.

A Lantos aide said he realizes that the Guantanamo facility does harm to the reputation of the United States and has praised judges who ruled in favor of extending legal rights to prisoners. He has not, however, suggested that the prison be closed.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Netherlands-Guantanamo.html?pagewanted=print

[ixion]

1. uh, why was Lantos following the neocon ideology here?

I think what he claimed was silly. It sounds like something * would say.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Lantos supported the invasion of Iraq and the infringement of our rights

Like some children of the Holocaust, Lantos has blinded himself to the crimes being committed today by nations he loves, be it the USA or Israel.

The only way to ensure that "Never Again" occurs again is by the swift prosecution and punishment of those that commit crimes against humanity, regardless of the scale of their crimes. We would have to agree to see a couple of our present and former Presidents at The Hague being tried for their crimes. Justice begins at home!

[Mika]

9. He also follows the neocon agenda in regards to Cuba.

He's in with Ileana Ros Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers in their anti Cuba crusade.

[Turbineguy]

3. It's a stupid thing to say.

There is no comparison between the two.

Jews did not serve Jewry by going to the camps. Terrorists serve their cause by being prisoners in Gitmo. And we make no friends by imprisoning the innocent.

[peacetalksforall]

4. I am in pain. I think I'm losing hope. Democrats are not white knights.

I can no longer accept war loving, pnac supporting Democrats. Stamped in memory is the anger I ranted against Ralph Nader in 2000 for messing up the country. Today, I am at a point where I may not vote. I may not vote if the only one left standing supports Republicans and war.

I cannot endorse war or all the inhuman, unethical, unconstitutional, unlawful policies of Republicans.

I may not vote. I never thought that the concept would enter my mind.

From direct hits on little and middle people on bankruptcy, to outrageous gifts to corporations that gives them non-accountability, tax-exemption, law exemption, theft of jobs and technology, union busting ... to unending killing of nations, to torture and torment, to acquiesence on belittling illegals who have been essentially legal by the welcome they received from corporations and cheating businesses, to not allowing legal representation. To not standing up to the reality and lying to us about what this nation is supposed to be.

My list of Dem leaders who have betrayed the people is growing.

This is NOT Dem bashing - this is the damn hurtful truth.

The only conclusion is that they are complicit, willingly.

By every little action and position such as this one.

We had to read between the line to figure out what the Republicans were doing to us.

We're at the same place with some Dems.

No more killing Presidents and representatives.

Our enemies were created and now they are real.

Look at what the stated position of superiority over other people of the world has given us.

An amalgam of all the worst in history.

[12string]

7. About your vote

  I have a proposition for you.I think this could be a win/win
situation for both of us.I no longer have the right to vote
and since you don't plan on using yours,if you vote for Dennis
Kucinich for me I think you'll find that your vote went to the
only candidate that cares about the issues you mentioned.We
both win.

[peacetalksforall]

8. I would take you up on that, but if Dennis Kucinich is the candidate,

I would vote myself. For him. Without any misgivings. So, it will be a version of win/win.

[ohio2007]

5. Dutch lawmakers are stumping for votes on their home front....

the article is a bit thin on the individual Dutch bios who are padering to the future voters that they depend on keeping them in office;

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/071019-slotervaart-youth-mc

[Judi Lynn]

6. Was horrified when I learning more about Lantos. Here's a quick look:

Tom Lantos’ warmongering record goes back to the ‘91 Gulf War when he played a key role in selling it through a staged hearing of the Human Rights Caucus (HRC) – a front for Hill and Knowlton, the PR firm the Kuwaiti government had hired – where a girl named Nayirah gave false testimony about Iraqi soldiers removing Kuwaiti babies from incubators and throwing them on the floor. This story was subsequently picked up by Amnesty International (it only retracted the story after the war) and subsequently propagated by the congress, Kuwaiti expats and other proponents of war (Ironically Lantos is one of the biggest critics of Amnesty and Human Rights Watch for being “overly critical of Israel”). The harrowing testimony of Nayirah — purportedly a nurse at the hospital but in reality the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S., Saud Nasir al-Sabah – played a critical role in getting congressional support for the war (The Kuwaitis donated $50,000 as thanks to HRC).

Lantos was also an enthusiastic supporter of Operation Defensive Shield, Sharon’s war of terror on the Palestinians. According to one analyst, “Lantos isn’t just a Democrat who voted for the Iraq war, he was one of its co-authors…Lantos has never met a war he didn’t like. His unblinking defense of Israeli policy gives him tunnel vision with the rest of the Middle East.” Already in 2006 he was gunning for war; he wrote an article “Now or Never to Prevent a Nuclear-Armed Iran.” Lantos was also a prominent supporter of the School of Americas, where Latin America’s military dictators and would-be torturers were trained. Lantos played a key role in building Democratic support for the Patriot Act. According to the Jeruslame Post, he represents Israel in countries with which it has no diplomatic relations.

Presently, he is one of Hillary Clinton’s prominent supporters. While he derives some of his prestige from being a holocaust survivors, according to Jeffrey Blankfort, “His ‘history’ as a holocaust survivor has evolved over the years and it is only in recent years that he has claimed to have been a leader of the anti-Nazi resistance in Hungary which conflicts with his earlier story that he was give a Swedish passport and a safe place to live by Raoul Wallenberg”.
(snip)

http://fanonite.org/2007/03/17/meet-the-fckers/

[peacetalksforall]

10. No more Lantos's and Clinton's in power. Everyone who doesn't

fight in objection to bombing Iran is out. No crappy pretend words - we need leaders who will save Iran. There is no reason under the sun to bomb Iran, to bomb humanity, and the infrastructure built by little people. Whether it's Israel or Iran.

I despise the politics of bombing for Israel.

It's the same politics that kicks their creator given potential in the axs - they choose not to think peace. Why?

We are in this critical situation and they are silently and not so silently pimping for war. Pimping for killing and maiming and economic destruction for the little people.

[badgervan]

11. Another Lieberman

Like Holy Joe and too many administration neocons, Lantos is an Israel Firster. These are the folks that will be responsible when the Decider lets the missiles fly against Iran, then Syria - the two countries that represent the biggest threats to the country Lantos loves more than the U.S. He and Joe should be drummed out of office due to dangerously misplaced loyalties.

[GCP]

12. The only Europeans who knew about Auschwitz at the time were German guards

Fucking idiot.

[bemildred]

13. Like Dreyfus, he didn't learn much from what happened to him. nt