Amnesty International has accused the United States of running a "gulag" in Guantanamo Bay. This is ridiculous, and an insult to all the people facing real oppression in the world today, and all the people that lost their lives in real gulags. I'm willing to concede that there may be some non-kosher goins on with the prisoners there, though there has been no real proof, just the word of former guests who have every reason to try to make the US look bad, and little reason to tell the truth. Heck, word on the street is that most Muslim terrorists are trained to lie about their captivity in these situations as it makes their captors look bad. Since Amnesty, along with several other NGOs, seems to have a vested interest in making the US look bad, it should come as no surprise that they would believe a rumor like this with no proof. Newsweek's bias caused them to go ahead and print a not-compeltely-sourced story like the Koran flushing thing, and they are the press, a part of society that's supposed to tell the truth. Amnesty's agenda has nothing to do with the truth. They aren't necessarily out to lie, either, but if they hear a rumor, they are under no professional standards to find out for sure if it's true before talking about it.

Anyway, back to my main point. The gulags were the Soviet version of concentration camps. People died by the millions in gulags. Guantanamo Bay has about 500 prisoners, and I have not heard of one single death, much less millions. And if the worst of the alleged torture consists of flushing Korans and making the prisoners walk around in their underwear, then Amnesty should be ashamed of themselves for their comparison. Such hyperbole helps no one, all it does is increase rancor against the United States. It's simply irresponsible, and eventually all but the hardcore left is going to start thinking of these NGOs like the boy who cried wolf.