On 6/3/05, the Bush administration lacked the courage to face its accuser directly. Jim Lehrer of Newshour on PBS moderated a discussion between Amnesty International and the Bush administration. The topic was Amnesty's recent allegations concerning prisoner abuse in the American version of Stalin's Gulag Archipelago. Amnesty sent William Schulz, their executive director in the United States. Lehrer invited the Pentagon to send a representative. Instead, they sent their proxy, Neil Livingston, CEO of Global Options, a security firm with expertise on the subject of terrorism. Competing emotions swelled within me as I watched Schulz and Livingston speak. Elation and anger wrestled violently as they struggled to become my predominant emotion.

With clinical detachment, Livingston gave a typical neocon justification for the "Gulag of our Times" in Guantanamo Bay and other locations. Taking umbrage to Amnesty's gall in leveling charges of human rights abuses against the morally superior United States; he coolly stated that Guantanamo was not even remotely similar to the Gulags under Stalin. Holding the neocon line, he denied that there was a problem with the US system of detention in the "war on terror". He stated that the men confined in Cuba were dangerous terrorists, and therefore were not entitled to rights afforded under the Geneva Convention. He admitted that there were some abuses, but minimized them, stating that they were rare and minor. Livingston further justified the American Gulag with the fact that we are at "war" and cannot risk freeing these prisoners until the "war" is over.

My joy and hope surged as Schulz cast a very different light on the situation. He reminded viewers that the US military has committed 27 homicides throughout its network of prisons, including Guantanamo. Schulz exposed the fact that prisoners in the US Gulag system are not confirmed terrorists because they have had no access to an objective tribunal to rule on their culpability. He also spoke of the "ghost detainees" who have disappeared, the US practice of transferring prisoners to nations which condone torture, and the fact that most of the prisoners in the "war on terror" have been held without formal charges for over two years.

Pointing out that the US is in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions, he defended Amnesty's report condemning US human rights abuses. He also addressed Irene Kahn's characterization of Guantanamo as the "Gulag of our Times". Explaining that while it was not a direct analogy, Shulz affirmed that there are many similarities between Stalin's Gulag Archipelago, and the terrorist prison network of the US. As Schulz declared, Irene Khan, the London-based director of Amnesty International, is a native of Bangladesh. Khan and Amnesty represent the viewpoints of the international community, and their condemnation of the war crimes of the US government is not a politically motivated attack. Schulz conveyed that Amnesty applies the "gold standard" of respect for human rights to each nation which it investigates. According to Schulz, the vehement denials of wrongdoing by Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld closely resembled those of countries such as Iran and North Korea, members of Bush's so-called "Axis of Evil".

The simple fact is that Amnesty International has an established reputation as an independent watchdog of human rights around the world. They have not exhibited a pattern of targeting specific countries to further a political agenda. The Bush administration recognized Amnesty's authority on the matter of human rights abuse when it suited their purposes. Now that Amnesty has trained their cross-hairs on them, they are lashing out like cornered animals. America's leaders deride or attempt to discredit virtually every organization or individual that has the audacity to challenge them. Smells like tyranny to me.

In 1974 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (a man who knew a bit about tyranny, Stalin, and the Gulag Archipelago) might as well have been talking about the Bush administration when he said:

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.

Fear lies beneath their ire

Bush and his cohorts are sweating. Amnesty has them in an angry, defensive mode because they are afraid. Why do they fear? They know the allegations are true. They also recognize that even the leaders of the mighty United States are subject to international law. The international court of public opinion has already found them guilty, which does not bode well for the neocons. Gandhi's perpetuation of a large civil disobedience movement in colonial India swayed world opinion to the degree that the British finally relented and left India a sovereign nation. The Bush regime comprehends that the movement against their corrupt abuses of power is gaining momentum both domestically and abroad, and they are feeling the heat.

Between Amnesty International exerting international pressure, the ACLU applying domestic legal pressure, and Representative John Conyers pushing for Congressional action based on the Downing Street Memo, the Bush regime has its hands full. Their fear is masked by anger as they continue to lash out at their detractors, but they are beginning to look and sound flustered.

While Amnesty commented that the Gulag analogy is not direct, there are distinct parallels between Stalin's infamous "Gulag Archipelago" and the American Gulags. The American system of confinement for detainees in the seemingly boundless and endless "war on terror" consists of an "archipelago" of at least 24 keeps, some of which are clandestine. According to Human Rights First (http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/statements/abu-yr-042605.htm), at least 108 prisoners have died in US Gulags, including 63 outside of Abu Gharib. They also validate through a CIA source that at least 100 "ghost detainees" exist, meaning the administration keeps them from the "prying eyes" of the monitors of the International Red Cross. The US now detains 11,000 prisoners in the American Gulag and, until recent rulings by the American judiciary, has given them no opportunity to prove their innocence. Torture, disappearances, murder, secrecy, and paucity of justice... Sounds like a track record that would fill Joseph Stalin with pride!

Bush and his fellow neocons are avaricious, power-mad, and short-sighted. They lack the spiritual vision to realize that they are grossly abusing the awesome power they wield. Consumed by self-absorption and a compulsion to continue the morally repugnant policy of Manifest Destiny, they fail to realize that America's ways are not superior to the ways of the rest of the world. Sadly, America's rulers believe they are justified in using invasion, occupation and torture to impose "democracy, capitalism and Christianity" on other nations, just as their predecessors did with Native Americans. Amnesty International has given them a painful reminder of their immoral, illegal acts, and of the limitations of their power. They also reminded the neocons that the world does not share their zeal for American "democracy". As evidenced by its response, America's elite ruling class is most displeased.

With the fictitious carte blanche moral authority that they derive from their cleverly contrived "war on terror," the Bush administration has acted with impunity far too long. Amnesty International has taken a bold stance against their despotism. They have shed a glaring light into the shadows, exposing the dark deeds of America's leaders. Undoubtedly, repulsion ripples through the bodies of decent human beings as they discover the injustices and human rights violations taking place in the American Gulag Archipelago

Now is the time for people of conscience to stand with Amnesty International in their support of human rights. Opposition to the Bush administration is strong in America, but needs to become stronger. I recently joined Amnesty International and fully support their bold charges against the Bush administration. Despite the fact that much malevolence emanates from America, there are many Americans who want no part of the Bush government, the true source of the malice. Humanity around the globe is vulnerable to the ruthless ambitions of the powerful nexus of plutocrats and corporations that comprise the American Oligarchy. They possess the potency of immense wealth and an unparalleled military arsenal, but are spiritually bankrupt. Therefore, the answer does not lie in other nations waging war against the US, or in American dissidents perpetrating acts of violence. Protests; education of our children, ourselves, and the uninformed; shining the light of truth into the shadows in which the Oligarchs lurk; verbal and written dissidence; moral and financial support of organizations like Amnesty International; acts of civil disobedience; boycotting the products of the administration's corrupt corporate allies; legal pressure and prosecution; and the impeachment process are the weapons we can use as we wage peace against the Oligarchs of the United States of America. As citizens of Earth, we share a common blight on our existence, and Washington DC is its epicenter. Waging peace will put this abomination in its place.