Just over five months ago after United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the U.S. should close down the detention facility for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, I wondered if he had “asked China, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe and other nations which incarcerate and torture political opponents to close down their detention facilities.” Although that post was linked by a number of blogs, not a single person wrote in with evidence that Kofi had asked any of these tyrannies to shut down prisons where there are actual documented cases of torture.

I did a variety of google searches to see if I could come up with any example of Kofi asking these tyrannies to shut down their prisons, focusing on Iran. I could not find any. Although Annan did ask Iran to release a political prisoner from Evin Prison, Annan did not ask the Islamicist regime to shut that notorious facility down. Unlike Guantanamo where the U.S. detains terrorist suspects, at Evin, Iran detains political prisoners whose crime is not taking up arms, but merely speaking out. The left-leaning Human Rights Watch found that “abuse and torture of dissidents have increased in Evin Prison’s solitary cells and secret detention centers. “

Asking that the U.S. shut down Guantanamo while remaining silent about a far worse facility in Iran, Kofi Annan seems ever eager to attack the West for alleged human rights’ violations while remaining silent when tyrannies and terrorist organizations commit far worse atrocities. We saw this attitude again this week when Kofi Annan assumed the worst when Israeli fire hit a United Nations outpost near Khiyam in southern Lebanon. Almost immediately, Annan accused “Israeli Defense Forces” of “apparently deliberate targeting” of the post.

Perhaps had Mr. Annan insisted that UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) fulfill its mandate to “restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area,” the UN outpost might have escaped damage. For while the United Nations certified that Israel complied with its obligations to leave Lebanon in 2000, it did nothing to disband and disarm the militias operating there, as mandated by Security Council Resolution 1559.

It wasn’t just that the UN did nothing to disarm Hezbollah, that terrorist organization also took of the world body’s complaisance, launching rockets and setting up terror operations from spots close to UN outposts. Indeed, the Canadian soldier from the UN force who was killed by the Israeli strike had complained that:

Hizbullah fighters were all over his position and the IDF were (sic) targeting them and that’s a favorite trick by people who don’t have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can’t be punished for it.

(Via Captain’s Quarters.) It’s thus clear that Israel did not deliberately attack the outpost as the Secretary General suggested. The real question is that why the United Nations did nothing to prevent terrorists from setting up camp near their outposts — and using the cover of these outposts to launch attacks on the civilian population of a sovereign nation.

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When it comes to criticizing the president, it seems some people just can’t help themselves. I’ll do a post on some topic or another without mentioning the president and one of our critics will rant against the president or rail against “Bushco” whatever that is. And it’s not just on this blog. No matter how short my drive is in West Hollywood or Hollywood, I am certain to catch sight of a number of cars sporting anti-Bush bumper stickers.

This weekend at the pro-Israel rally in Los Angeles was no different. The two primary partisan speaker’s, the Golden State’s Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the City of Angels’ Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, stuck to the theme of the event, delivering strong speeches supporting the Jewish State’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah terrorists. Neither man attacked his political adversaries, nor even directed asides against them.

Democratic Congressman Howard Berman, however, felt it incumbent upon himself to attack the Administration and congressional leadership. He was trying to make the point that despite the deep partisan divisions in Washington today, both parties were united around their support for Israel. He could have said all that without attacking the Administration.

I don’t how many times I have heard people, for no apparent reason, launch into broadsides against the president — even in a conversation which has nothing to do with politics. While people should speak up and voice their concerns when they disagree with a political leader’s actions or words, I wonder why these people are so obsessed with their hatred of the president that they blame him for everything that goes wrong in the world — and sometimes even in their own personal lives.

No wonder John Kerry recently said in Michigan that if he were president the current crisis in the Middle East would not have happened. He knew that his liberal audience would warm to any notion which lay the blame for the latest world crisis on George W. Bush.

Our adversaries falsely accuse us of taking issue with anyone who utters the slightest criticism of the president. Some claim we — and other conservatives — worship him as some Great Leader who could do no wrong. Yet, they seem to think he’s quite the opposite, a demon who can do no right. So obsessed are they with their demon that they attack him at any given moment, just so they can make clear how much they hate him.

But, their obsession makes me wonder not so much about the president’s faults, but why they hate so much — and so readily express their animosity.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Here’s an item you won’t see tonight on the evening news or in the al-New York Times (thanks for that one, NDT!).

Death Squad Cell in Baghdad Taken Down – CentCom email

BALAD – Iraqi Army forces conducted a pre-dawn raid in Baghdad on July 25, capturing six targeted insurgents, all of whom are believed to be involved in ‘death squad’ activities. 

As coalition force advisers looked on, Iraqi forces raided an objective in southwest Baghdad consisting of four separate buildings and captured the cell leader and five other key members of an insurgent “punishment committee.”  

Iraqi forces also seized two AK-47 assault rifles, one pistol, and one set of body armor.    The operation occurred without incident; there were no Iraqi or coalition force casualties.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

While folks like Raj and Ian think that there are concentration camps in Idaho and that Muslims/Palestinians are our friends, President Bush shows that being straight or gay has no bearing on his decisions to put qualified people into important roles.

Bush nominates gay man to head global AIDS office – Washington Blade

President Bush nominated gay physician Mark R. Dybul July 17 to be United States Global AIDS Coordinator, a post at the State Department that has the rank of ambassador. If the U.S. Senate ratifies his nomination, Dybul would replace pharmaceutical industry executive Randall Tobias as head of a $15 billion program initiated by Bush and approved by Congress to combat AIDS in developing countries, with a focus on Africa. Bush appointed Tobias to another administration post. “[Dybul] is widely recognized as someone highly qualified for this position,” said Carl Schmid, a gay Republican activist who serves as federal affairs director for the AIDS Institute, a national AIDS advocacy group. Dybul currently serves as acting U.S. global AIDS coordinator and chief medical officer at the State Department. He would become the third openly gay person to hold a U.S. ambassadorial position. President Clinton appointed businessman and philanthropist James Hormel as ambassador to Luxemburg. In his first term in office, Bush appointed gay career Foreign Service Officer Michael Guest as ambassador to Romania.

Um wait.. let me understand.  President Bush has nominated two gay men for ambassador roles for the United States and Gay Messiah Clinton (father of DOMA and DADT) only nominated one?  Oh and by the way, Romania is a key ally in the War on Terror (*cough* unlike France *cough*), so Michael Guest representing the United States is a very big deal.

Ah, more busting of myths!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)