Amnesty Hyperbole

Last week, Amnesty International called the U.S. prison camp Guantanamo Bay the "gulag of our times."

This claim is nothing more than a farce. The hyperventilators at Amnesty have always been a bit out there, but to compare Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet Gulags is pure America-bashing and nothing more.

Let's put this into perspective here, it is estimated that there were up to 25 million forced-labor slaves in the Soviet gulags during their reign of terror. Their crimes? Anyone suspected of dissent against the Soviet Union was a candidate for sentencing to a lifetime of forced labor in Siberia. Many thousands of those died from exhaustion, starvation and freezing to death. For more on the Soviet Gulags, read John Poderetz' article here.

Now, let's compare this to the treatment of the terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. The inmates are given three meals a day, have signs all over the prison pointing to Mecca for their 5 daily prayers, some are even allowed to get exercise 7-9 hours a day! Take a look at Deroy Murdock's article here on the treatment of Guantanamo's prisoners. You'd be astonished how well the "gulag of our times(')" residents are treated.

With outrageous statements like Amnesty's, is there no wonder that more and more activist groups are losing almost all credibility?

UPDATE - June 2, 2005 - Guess which Presidential candidate received Amnesty's political donations last year.