Patronizing pattern
(In response to Oday Shahin’s Nov. 22 column "U.S. needs to investigate human rights claims.")
While there is no doubt that human rights abuses have been committed by individuals representing the coalition forces in Iraq, Oday [Shahin]'s argument for crucifying our Armed Forces as a band of war criminals represents the hypocrisy rampant in a wider struggle aimed at delegitimizing the actions of members of the free world.
Shahin regularly cites the U.N. and its Human Rights Council as his primary source in a number of his [columns], portraying them as champions of human rights. In reality, the U.N. is the opposite. For instance, Libya — a notorious human rights abuser — acts as a chair for the U.N. Human Rights Council. This same council has also been chaired by dictatorships such as Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia, a country known for its barbaric oppression of women, was recently elected to a seat on the board of the U.N. Women's Rights Council. Syria and Iran, two dictatorships that have violated U.N. [Security Council] Resolution 1701 by rearming the internationally recognized terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon, currently head the U.N. Disarmament Commission.
The Human Rights Council has issued 20 out of 25 of its last resolutions against our ally Israel, the only free country in the Middle East, for defending its civilians against terrorism. It has completely ignored the massive abuses of Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, China, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, etc. Am I the only one that sees a pattern?
Micah Tuttle
Undergraduate
