Friends/Family,
To my utter chagrin, I discovered that no Utah Representative signed on the letter calling for the establishment of a special U.N. inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma, the likes of which have been established for Darfur, Rwanda, and Yugoslavia. 55 Representatives and 60 members of the British Parliament signed the letter- a historic start to ending the brutal war-crimes perpetrated by the ruling military junta, such as the mass use of child soldiers, systematic village burning, rape, looting, torture and the imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize Laureat, Aung San Suu Kyi. If this inaction by our elected officials infuriates you, as it does me, please write them about this issue.
***The letter and signatories: http://uscampaignforburma.org/congressletter
http://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml - this website provides a thorough list of ***Congress member's names, contact information and committees they are a member of.
***http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord - This web site allows you to view how your congress member voted on recent legislation-including human-rights related bills
Even more shocking, is the report by the New York Times that the Bush Administration played a role in covering up the massacre of Taliban Pow's by Pentagon-backed General Dostum, an Afghanistanian warlord. The Times reports that Pow's were placed in containers that lacked proper ventilation and that numerous pows died and those who did not asphyxiate were shot. These actions represent a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and since the U.S. supported General Dostum, the U.S. is in violation of international law. How is the U.S. ever going to convince governments of nations such as China, Sudan, Burma, and elsewhere to stop committing ubiquitous human rights abuses against their own people if we support murderous warlords like Dostum, who have no respect for human rights? In order to restore our influence and soft power around the world we need to end our hypocritical support for dictators and brutual warlords and firmly adhere to international law and respect for human rights. I will write my representatives to help make sure Congrees denounces this action and calls for an investigation- Obama already has, please join me in this endevour. We can not allow the U.S. to violate human rights on this scale.
Picture of Burmese child-soldier from:http://scanned.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/burma-diary.jpg
Thank you for reading,
Cameron
It is disheartening, keep speaking out! "We will not be silent" -scholl
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