发信人: booger (掌门师猪), 信区: Military
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Sun Jun 7 07:42:12 2009, 美东)
前几天美国会390:1的那个天安门议案，投反对票的应该就是这个老头吧
Tiananmen Square Is None of Your Business, Congress
by Ron Paul
Statement before the US House of Representatives, June 3, 2009
I rise to oppose this unnecessary and counter-productive resolution
regarding the 20th anniversary of the incident in China’s Tiananmen Square.
In addition to my concerns over the content of this legislation, I strongly
object to the manner in which it was brought to the floor for a vote. While
the resolution was being debated on the House floor, I instructed my staff
to obtain a copy so that I could read it before the vote. My staff was told
by no less than four relevant bodies within the House of Representatives
that the text was not available for review and would not be available for
another 24 hours. It is unacceptable for Members of the House of
Representatives to be asked to vote on legislation that is not available for
them to read!
As to the substance of the resolution, I find it disturbing that the House
is going out of its way to meddle in China’s domestic politics, which is
none of our business, while ignoring the many pressing issues in our own
country that definitely are our business.
This resolution “calls on the People’s Republic of China to invite full
and independent investigations into the Tiananmen Square crackdown, assisted
by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
International Committee of the Red Cross…” Where do we get the authority
for such a demand? I wonder how the US government would respond if China
demanded that the United Nations conduct a full and independent
investigation into the treatment of detainees at the US-operated Guantanamo
facility?
The resolution “calls on the legal authorities of People’s Republic of
China to review immediately the cases of those still imprisoned for
participating in the 1989 protests for compliance with internationally
recognized standards of fairness and due process in judicial proceedings.”
In light of US government’s extraordinary renditions of possibly hundreds
of individuals into numerous secret prisons abroad where they are held
indefinitely without charge or trial, one wonders what the rest of the world
makes of such US demands. It is hard to exercise credible moral authority
in the world when our motto toward foreign governments seems to be “do as
we say, not as we do.”
While we certainly do not condone government suppression of individual
rights and liberties wherever they may occur, why are we not investigating
these abuses closer to home and within our jurisdiction? It seems the House
is not interested in investigating allegations that US government officials
and employees approved and practiced torture against detainees. Where is the
Congressional investigation of the US-operated “secret prisons” overseas?
What about the administration’s assertion of the right to detain
individuals indefinitely without trial? It may be easier to point out the
abuses and shortcomings of governments overseas than to address government
abuses here at home, but we have the constitutional obligation to exercise
our oversight authority in such matters. I strongly believe that addressing
these current issues would be a better use of our time than once again
condemning China for an event that took place some 20 years ago.
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