Kansas City Star Editorial: "Bush's HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES continue to embarrass USA" [View All]

The Bush administration’s human-rights abuses continue to embarrass the United States and undermine its position around the world — not just in traditionally hostile areas but even among our closest allies. Yet the White House still clings to the arrogant notion that its mistakes can simply be glossed over with better PR.

Karen Hughes, a State Department official and one of President Bush’s closest confidants, is laying out plans for a new rhetorical offensive that, among other things, would attempt to claim U.S. leadership in the human-rights area.

The problem is that the Bush administration has itself been engaged in well-publicized human-rights violations. Top officials frequently evade questions on the subject on flimsy pretexts, leaving everyone to imagine the worst....

So Hughes invites mockery with her if-only-the-truth-were-told approach to our diplomatic challenges. Bush, Gonzales and other administration officials have made it abundantly clear that they have a distinct aversion to telling the truth when it does not put them in a favorable light....

http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/149361.html