Amnesty when Convenient

Tim Grieve at Salon:

As the folks at Think Progress note, the Bush administration has been more than happy to rely on Amnesty International's work when it's politically expedient -- say, to make the case for invading Iraq. But it's a different story now that Amnesty International has turned its attention to abuses by the United States.

Fighting off a sudden case of lame-duckness, George W. Bush held a press conference this morning in the White House Rose Garden, where he was asked about Amnesty's new report detailing allegations of abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The president's response: "It's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world."

Bush said that the allegations were made by people -- and we're assuming that he was talking about the detainees, not Amnesty -- "who hate America." That much may be true, but it doesn't make their allegations false.