Amnesty International's Most Wanted List

Much has been written on Amnesty International's recent characterization of Gitmo as the "gulag of our times." It was an absurd and hyperbolic charge, of course, but as vitriolic attacks on America go, it was not especially remarkable; listen to Air America or al-Jazeera for five minutes and you are likely to hear far worse.

But the ensuing media furor masked an even more outageous and outlandish Amnesty comment, one that shows just how ludicrous and irresponsible the so-called "human rights" organization has become. In a press release, Amnesty International called on foreign governments to arrest US government officials who traveled overseas. I kid you not. This extract was taken straight from the Amnesty website:

If the US government continues to shirk its responsibility, Amnesty International calls on foreign governments to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating all senior US officials involved in the torture scandal. And if those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them. The apparent high-level architects of torture should think twice before planning their next vacation to places like Acapulco or the French Riviera because they may find themselves under arrest as Augusto Pinochet famously did in London in 1998.

Without even giving the reader time to recover from either the fits of laughter or screams of rage that this inane press release evokes, Amnesty then helpfully put out the all-points-bulletin for Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Gonzalez, and a host of other US government and military officials. No word yet on whether Amnesty will issue similar arrest warrants for all the third-world despots who are greeted with open arms at the UN and capitals around the world.