Amnesty International - Working To Protect Human Rights Worldwide

Amnesty International's 2005 Report on the state of the world's human rights likens Guantanamo Bay to a modern day gulag in the mold of those run by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In separate news reports, President (Chicken Hawk) Bush calls the characterization "absurd". Secretary Rumsfeld categorically rejects the report's findings.

Let's see:

Soviet Gulag: People routinely imprisoned without the benefit of fair and impartial trials. Many imprisoned because of political beliefs. No access to lawyers or other independent counsel. Access by international organizations such as the Red Cross or Amnesty International was blocked, if not prohibited outright. Prisoners lived in squalor and inhumane conditions. Torture was rampant. Respect for human dignity probably non-existent.

Guantanamo Bay: Detainees come from around the world and are overwhelmingly Arab or Muslim. They are branded "Enemy Combatants" without, at least until recently, an opportunity to contest their being branded "Enemy Combatants" or their detention. They have not been informed of the specific charges against them. Many have been held for a number of years without benefit of trial or counsel. Reports of detainee abuse are rampant. (Allegations concerning gaurds flushing the Koran down the toilet comes to mind.)

The Bush Administration, before the Supreme Court stopped its overreaching, claimed an absolute right, non-reviewable by any court, to hold detainees indefinitely without any obligation to provide counsel, inform detainees of the charges against them or their rights, much less, try them before a competent and impartial tribunal.

So which is more absurd, Amnesty International's report or the Administration's response?