Alabaster Jones — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:32:58 GMT

I was sitting in an internet cafe in Beijing a couple of years ago reading a story in the Guardian about someone who was seized by the CIA and put in a prison in, I believe it was Morocco, where he was subjected to tortures that included surgically mutilating his penis. I described that to a friend of mine, an ex-cop, and his reply was something to the effect of – “Wow that’s fucked up – your government does that and then criticizes China for their human rights?”

Last year police in Beijing cracked down on African drug dealers by seizing any black skinned person the came across, beating them and dragging them to the police station. An American journalist went to the police station and, while talking to the police, criticized them for their violence. The cop said something to the effect of, “Sure, and your government never does anything like that, huh?”

I would never belittle the horrors of the Chinese crack down in Tibet. But Pelosi doesn’t have to worry about the US government loosing its moral authority over not speaking out on Tibet. That ship sailed a while ago…

The Washington Independent - U.S. news and politics - washingtonindependent.com: Comments by Alabaster Jones