_Emergency request for help_<br><br>Dear Member,<br><br>You and I have a message to send.<br><br>What the Bush Administration chooses to do about the horrific scandal <br>of torture and abuse of prisoners in Iraq will determine what kind of <br>country we are going to be for decades to come.<br><br>We must make certain the Administration does the right thing. I want <br>every Amnesty supporter to know how we are responding to this crisis <br>and to ask for your immediate help.<br><br>If you are a current Amnesty member, please make an emergency <br>contribution now by clicking here: <br>http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=637401&l=8791<br><br>If you are not yet a member, there has never been a more important time <br>to raise your voice.<br>http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=637401&l=8792<br><br><br>For nearly a year Amnesty has been raising concerns about allegations <br>of torture and abuse of detainees by U.S. and Coalition forces in <br>Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq and elsewhere based on our interviews with <br>former detainees and other sources. We have had no meaningful response <br>from the Bush administration. And, despite repeated requests we have been denied access to all detention facilities run by the U.S. Amnesty is <br>openly calling for specific, verifiable steps to end this horrific <br>crisis, including:<br><br>(1) A public declaration stating that the torture and humiliation of <br>prisoners will not be tolerated;<br><br>(2) A halt to all ill-treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody;<br><br>(3) Granting independent human rights monitors unrestricted and regular <br>access to the government's numerous detainees in all detention centers;<br><br>(4) Compensating victims of abuse and conducting future interrogations <br>of prisoners in accordance with strict human rights standards; and<br><br>(5) An end to incommunicado detention.<br><br>In the days and weeks ahead, Amnesty will mobilize actions including an <br>International Day to End Torture in key cities and towns across the <br>country. Amnesty activists have begun organizing our members and other <br>Americans of good will to create citizen demonstrations on behalf of <br>justice, human rights and an end to the use of torture, wherever it may be <br>found, whoever may be perpetrating it.<br><br>As part of this mobilization, we plan to mount a major media/public <br>education campaign to publicize the reports delivered directly by Amnesty <br>International staff to the most senior administration officials a year <br>ago detailing allegations of torture and ill-treatment in Afghanistan, <br>Guantanamo and Iraq.<br><br>Just this past week we taped an urgent public service spot with actress <br>and activist Susan Sarandon. We will be seeking national distribution <br>for the spot, which you can hear by clicking this link: <br>http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=637401&l=8793<br><br>We will also press for permission to dispatch an Amnesty delegation to <br>enter U.S. detention centers not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan, <br>Guantanamo Bay and various undisclosed locations. It is crucial that <br>these delegations include experts on the Geneva Conventions and other <br>international laws pertaining to prisoners of war, as well as experienced <br>human rights investigators.<br><br>In the weeks ahead, please check out our Web site for updates on our <br>progress which your generous help makes possible. And if you have <br>already made a recent gift, please accept my warmest thanks. With special <br>appreciation for your enduring commitment and support.<br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>Bill Schulz<br>Executive Director<br>Amnesty International USA<br><br>P.S. Your membership in Amnesty sends a powerful message about what <br>America is really about. You can join or donate right now using our safe <br>and convenient online form - <br>http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=637401&l=8792<br><br>

If only they were this serious about every injustice in the world, and not just the easy and fashionable ones.<br><br>

Are you freaking serious???<br>Please…please! I am a member (on&off)<br>of amnesty for over 10 years now…<br>PLEASE!<br><br>Read the web site, research the history!<br><br>The organization has been the international<br>"watch dog" for politacal prisoners for…<br>longer than you or I have been alive.<br><br>So smug, dear sam and so very wrong!<br><br>

Cherry's right on this one Sam...<br><br>Amnesty International is the one that was working <br>to get this story to public attention in the first place.<br><br>They're your last hope when you get detained in another<br>country, and fall through the cracks in the system, and<br>find yourself rotting in a prison where even the Red Cross<br>is afraid to deliver their little packages to.<br><br>You do have it quite backwards.<br>These people don't handle "fashionable causes". <br>If anything, they make causes "Fashionable" <br>---as they did in the case of Nelson Mandella. <br><br>They bring to light cases concerning people that would <br>never have be heard of ~OR FROM~ again.<br><br>Often, they are these people's last hope, and only friend.<br><br><br>[color:green]"...or am I a butterfly that's dreaming she's a woman?"</font color=green>

You don't think they have an agenda? By agenda I mean they focus on attention on certain atrocities and turn a blind eye to others. <br><br>Keep fighting the good fight, cherry. Whatever that is! <br><br>

Yeah! Who do they think they are! <br><br>They should keep their big mouths shut!<br>...LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE! <br><br><br>[color:green]"...or am I a butterfly that's dreaming she's a woman?"</font color=green>

i am not a member of AI and i have not really followed anything they do other than a general overview of what their mission is. so, i am really curious as to the atrocities that they have ignored. i just perused the website, but they aren't going to tell me what they are ignoring obviously, so what are they?<br><br>----<br>"even if we get bin Laden or Zawahiri now, it is 2 years 2 late. Al Qaeda is a very different org now. It has had time to adapt. The administration should have finished this job." Leverett, former Bush Nat’l Security Cncl staff specialist.

In the words of cherry, "research the history!"<br><br><br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>they focus on attention on certain atrocities and turn a blind eye to others. <p><hr></blockquote><p>Can you cite anything in particular, or are you just talking smack? and why?<br><br>Like I have said, I've been with them for a long time and I have always known the organization to be solid. They seem to focus on what comes to their attention. There are members all over the world, but I doubt they can be everywhere all the time.<br><br>Throught the years, I have been fed this by amnesty:<br>http://web.amnesty.org/pages/aboutai-udhr-eng<br><br>I'm not sure why speading information that help stop human rights abuses is offensive to you, that is really beyond me.<br><br><br>

i spent about 20 minutes doing just that, which is why i asked. they've been around for 40 years or so and they make it seem as though they are involved in every injustice where nobody else will step to the plate. obviously, researching the history is much easier to do the way cherry recommends it because they have much to read about on causes they've fought for...they don't, however, explain which cases they've avoided. that's why i asked because i assumed you knew of a particular case(s) you could reveal. i'd like to believe they are non-partisan and take up every little guy/gal, but having extra knowledge that they discriminate will help me to better choose appropriate charities. <br><br>----<br>"even if we get bin Laden or Zawahiri now, it is 2 years 2 late. Al Qaeda is a very different org now. It has had time to adapt. The administration should have finished this job." Leverett, former Bush Nat’l Security Cncl staff specialist.