Obama Disappointing Human Rights Advocates
From Eli Lake at The Wash Times:
Human rights groups are beginning to question President Obama's commitment to their issue as the administration engages authoritarian regimes, retains the option of sending terrorist suspects abroad to places where they might be tortured and puts off a presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Mr. Obama's decision to wait until after he visits China in November to meet with the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists —who was on Capitol Hill Tuesday receiving an award—comes after a series of decisions that have underlined a classic tension in U.S. foreign policy between the head and the heart.
While Mr. Obama campaigned for the White House by promising to restore American values, he also vowed to talk with governments that had been shunned by his predecessor. Now, those promises are bumping against each other.
"There has not been sufficient attention paid within this administration on how to counter the major challenges to human rights that we face today," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. "We see authoritarian regimes like China, Iran and Egypt and others getting granted opportunities for dialogue and engagement, but it's not clear from the outside how human rights concerns will be addressed in that engagement."
This comes on the heels of news that Gitmo almost certainly won't be closed as promised by January.
Quick question for the Buddhists: According to his own religion, isn't the Dalai Lama getting exactly what he deserves?