Bush administration flip flops: Amnesty International: Bush Administration Documents

The following are Bush Administration Documents and US Congressional Citations related to the main article Bush administration flip flops: Amnesty International (AI):

White House Documents

 * In a White House web presentation titled: "Renewal In Iraq", AI reports are cited on the
 * "Saddam Hussein's Iraq" webpage, and
 * "Tales of Saddam's Brutality", quotes a newspaper article that cites AI.
 * September 12, 2002 -A Decade of Deception and Defiance - pdf file) A web release in support of a George W. Bush United Nations speech given the same day used at least six citations to AI Reports.
 * Saddam Hussein's Repression of the Iraqi People - 5 citations.
 * Saddam Hussein's Refusal to Account for Gulf War Prisoners.
 * December 2, 2002 - Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer.
 * April 4, 2003 - Life Under Saddam Hussein - 1 citation.
 * April 17, 2003 - Statement by the Deputy Press Secretary-United Nations Sanctions Cuba for Human Rights Violations - 1 citation.
 * May 28, 2003 - Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer - Fleischer both commends and condemns an AI Report released that day.- 1 citation.
 * September 20, 2004 Statement by the Press Secretary (Scott McClellan) - "We welcome Libya's engagement with Amnesty International."

Department of Defense Documents

 * November 11, 2001 - The Taliban: A Well-Documented Legacy of Brutality (pdf file) - 2 citations.
 * July 31, 2002 - Transcript of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's prepared testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee (rtf file)- cites AI’s 2001 human rights report.
 * March 12, 2003 - Transcript of Deputy Secretary Paul Dundes Wolfowitz Interview with Newsweek - 1 citation.
 * March 27, 2003 - Press Stakeout at Senate - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers - 1 citation.
 * March 28, 2003 - DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers - 1 citation.
 * October 23, 2003 - Transcript of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Interview with Washington Times, Editorial Board - 1 citation.
 * June 23, 2004 Special Defense Department Briefing with Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England - The DOD sought input from AI about their annual review of Guantanamo Bay Detainees.

Department of State Documents
Note: There are far too many to reference properly in this format.
 * October 17, 2001 - The Taliban's Betrayal of the Afghan People - 4 citations.
 * November 22, 2001 - Al Qaeda and Taliban Atrocities - 2 citations.
 * March 4, 2002 - 2001 State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
 * Paraguay - 10 citations.
 * Korea, Democratic People's Republic of - 13 citations.
 * Spain - 8 citations
 * See also: State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
 * December 2002 - IRAQ: From Fear to Freedom '(pdf file)'' - A Human Rights Catastrophe - 4 citations.
 * February 2003 - Iraq: A Population Silenced - The Missing Are Silent - 3 citations.
 * May 26, 2004 - Daily Press Briefing: Richard Boucher, Spokesman.
 * "We work with Amnesty International. We listen to Amnesty International. We have close ties. We talk to them all the time, share information."


 * September 14, 2004 - Eric Green, Human Rights Groups Call for Cuban Dissidents' Release from Jail - 6 citations.
 * September 14, 2004 - Eric Green, [ ... Human Rights Said to be Under Threat in Venezuela: Amnesty International faults "inadequate" response to abuses] - 4 citations plus weblink to report
 * March 18, 2005 - Eric Green, Human-Rights Abuses in Cuba Must Stop, Says Amnesty International: Group publishes new report on "prisoners of conscience" in Cuba (Fidel, not Guantanamo) - 8 citations, plus weblink to AI's Report.

US Congressional Citations
The U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives had their share of persons who were quite happy to cite Amnesty International as a justification for the Iraq War:


 * "Amnesty International reports 'Detainees have been threatened with bringing in a female relative, especially the wife or the mother, and raping her in front of the detainee. Some of these threats have been carried out.'"

Senator Asa Hutchinson (R-Arkansas), Discussion of US Senate Authorization of the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, Congressional Record (Senate), October 9, 2002.


 * "Amnesty International reported that in October 2000, Iraq executed dozens of women on charges of prostitution. Amnesty also reported the decapitation of numerous women accused of crimes with victims heads displayed in front of homes for several days. They further reported that the female relatives of prisoners are often raped as part of their torture."


 * "In total, the respected human rights group Amnesty International reports that Iraq failed to account for 16,000 people held in its custody."


 * Congressman Mark Steven Kirk (R-Illinois 10th)


 * "This is one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Amnesty International has reported that Iraq is the country with the greatest number of people missing or unaccounted for."


 * Congressman Ed Royce (R-California 40th)

Further Consideration of H. RES. 114, Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution Of 2002, Congressional Record (House), October 8, 2002.


 * "A lot of people do not think of Saddam Hussein as a terrorist, but if you measure the severity of terrorism by the number of people someone has tortured or murdered, certainly no one can hold a candle to Saddam Hussein. In 1983, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented that he executed 8,000 of his own Kurdish citizens aged 13 and older. In 1985, it is reported they executed 315 children between the ages of 8 and 17. In 1988--we all remember this very well because that is when he set a record. We believe it is an all-time record that holds to this day. He murdered, in one day, 5,000 of his own citizens using a chemical that produces the most torturous kind of death, where your eyeballs are fried and your lungs are actually fried. There was mustard gas and other chemicals. That was in 1988. Then they talked about the 60 villages--Human Rights Watch--attacked with mustard gas. Women, children, it did not make any difference.


 * In 1990, Amnesty International listed 38 new methods of torture used by Saddam Hussein including mock execution, piercing of the hands with electric drills, electric shocks, sexual abuse, lowering the victims into baths of acid.:

Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Commending the President and the Armed Forces of the United States of America, Congressional Record (Senate), March 20, 2003

It should be noted that Inhofe complained about the Senate Investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib stating on May 11, 2004, entered onto the official Senate record,


 * "...as I watched the -- this outrage, this outrage everyone seems to have about the treatment of these prisoners, I was, I have to say -- and I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment." -

Further links:
 * Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana 6th), Human Rights Abuses in Iraq, Congressional Record, March 6, 2003.
 * Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Pennsylvania 7th)
 * The Need for Further United Nations Action on Iraq, Congressional Record (House), February 25, 2003.
 * Allied Support for War Against Iraq, Congressional Record (House), March 11, 2003.