Human Rights Watch congressional testimony: US has a crisis of credibility

[Alpharetta]

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/07/07/usint9009_txt.htm

In his testimony July 7 to U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations, Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch, said

"... how the United States responds to two immediate crises.

"The first is a human rights crisis of the highest order – the emergency in Darfur, Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of lives will be lost unless the United States and the international community mount a proper response to stop and reverse ethnic cleansing. Here, the Bush administration has been deeply and seriously engaged. It is trying to do the right thing, though clearly much more still needs to be done.

The second is a crisis of credibility, a crisis of confidence in America’s ability to lead the struggle for human rights around the world by example. This crisis was brought on by decisions made by the Bush administration to place some of its conduct of the war on terror beyond the reach of law, and it was deepened profoundly by the prison abuse scandal. Here, it is not yet clear if the administration is prepared to do what it must to repair the damage to America’s moral authority in the world. "

(Much more at link: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/07/07/usint9009_txt.htm)