"It is a Society Heading Towards Animal Farm" Archbishop of York

[kpete]

'The Americans are Breaking International Law... It is a Society Heading Towards Animal Farm' - Archbishop Sentamu on Guantanamo
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2006-02-19 16:37. Media
Published on Saturday, February 18, 2006 by Independent/UK
By Ian Herbert and Ben Russell

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has launched a passionate attack on President George Bush, saying his administration's refusal to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay camp reflected "a society that is heading towards George Orwell's Animal Farm".

Dr Sentamu, the Church of England's second in command, urged the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to take legal action against the US - through the US courts or the International Court of Justice at The Hague - should it fail to respond to a report, by five UN inspectors, advising that Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay should be shut immediately because prisoners there are being tortured.

..........

Dr Sentamu said the UNHRC should seek a writ of habeas corpus, compelling the US to bring those being detained at Guantanamo to court, to establish whether they are imprisoned lawfully and if they should be released.

"The American Government is breaking international law," he told The Independent. "The main building block of a democratic society is that everyone is equal before the law, innocent until proved otherwise, and has the right to legal representation. If the guilt of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay is beyond doubt, why are the Americans afraid to bring them to trial? Transparency and accountability are the other side of the coin of freedom and responsibility. We are all accountable for our actions in spite of circumstances. The events of 9/11 cannot erase the rule of law and international obligations.



http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7987

[tecelote]

1. The events of 9/11 cannot erase the rule of law and international obligati

But, the Republicans can!

[tjwmason]

2. Some interesting back-ground.

Dr. Sentamu was originally a lawyer by trade and in his native Uganda rose to be a senior judge (might even have been Chief Justice, I can't remember) and stood up to Idi Amin's regime before fleeing to the U.K. and beginning his Priestly vocation.

Thus not only is he speaking as a churchman, but as a well-trained legal mind who has faced up to an horrific dictatorship before.

[TahitiNut]

4. The Right Reverend Doctor John Sentamu is truly an extraordinary man.

Brilliant and conscientious, his accomplishments are nothing short of heroic and forming a resume that's more than enough for ten highly reputable people.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4102960.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sentamu

[pnorman]

10. "and stood up to Idi Amin's regime before fleeing to the U.K."

I had no idea of that, and it probably would have never occurred to me to Google that fact out. But that puts his words on a far higher level of relevance to me (NOT being a card-carrying Christian).

THANKS, Ill use it to good effect.

pnorman

[x-g.o.p.er]

3. Here, here!! n/t

[bobbieinok]

5. a woman Anglican priest's praise of Sentamu when he was chosen

Archbishop of York

(I remembered reading this last summer)

http://maggidawn.typepad.com/maggidawn/2005/06/sentamu_to_be_a.html

Sentamu to be Archbishop of York

This man used to be my Vicar.
When he was in the process of packing me off to College to train for ordination (and this was in the days when women could be Deacons but not Priests!), he urged me to try first for a place at Cambridge University, and if I possibly could, to read not just for a first degree, but also for a PhD. "I am a black man", he said, "and I know that if you are not white, and not a man, the doors do not easily open for you. You are white, but you are a woman. If you have "Rev'd" before your name, it will help. If you have "Rev'd Dr" the doors will open wider. It is not right that this should be so. But it is the way that things are. You have a brain, and you have a call from God. Get the letters that will open the doors, so that God will not be limited in what he can do with you."

A few years later, when he was Bishop of Stepney he took the afternoon off to come to Cambridge and baptise my son, who was 5 weeks old at the time. He has always remained my friend.

When he became Bishop of Birmingham (or Bishop FOR Birmingham, as he preferred to call it) he made a big deal of replacing the part of the service where he should have gone and sat on his "throne" with a ceremony in which he washed the feet of 12 local schoolchildren, gave each of them a rather splendid theatrical crown to wear, and got THEM to sit on the throne one by one. In his sermon, he said that he believed in servant leadership - and I can vouch for the fact that even when he was a lowly Vicar he was to be seen just as often as anyone else mopping the floor or washing the dishes. He never allowed the music group or any other "profile" ministry group to escape their turn on the cleaning rota. If you won't clean for the Church, he said, you have no right to minister to them.

more....

[glitch]

6. Wow. Awesome to see such a wise and caring soul in action. nt

"I am a black man", he said, "and I know that if you are not white, and not a man, the doors do not easily open for you. You are white, but you are a woman. If you have "Rev'd" before your name, it will help. If you have "Rev'd Dr" the doors will open wider. It is not right that this should be so. But it is the way that things are. You have a brain, and you have a call from God. Get the letters that will open the doors, so that God will not be limited in what he can do with you."

[godhatesrepublicans]

7. Well Duh, Mr Archbishop....

Or should I say "Yeah, thanks for noticing"? We've been screaming this for what, 5 years now?

[DetroitProle]

8. makes me proud to be an Anglican

no matter how nominal I may be...the good that's left makes me happy to keep the title.

[dysfunctional press]

9. "...heading towards...?"

maybe- if you're looking in the rear-view mirror.

[Vidar]

11. Only thing wrong here is " heading toward".