It Is Preached, but …

Impunity, or the perception of being beyond the law, has long been the hallmark of certain regimes. In its annual report for 2011, Amnesty International castigated the impunity of human rights violations enjoyed by several officials of George W. Bush’s administration.

The organization also condemned Canada for its “failure last fall to arrest Bush when he visited British Columbia, ‘despite clear evidence that he was responsible for crimes under international law, including torture.’”

The reality is that no one, under the CIA program of secret detentions and transfer of prisoners, has been found guilty of crimes committed during the Bush era.

Amnesty also talks about “excessive use of force” on American soil, in Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This is not the first time that Amnesty has accused Bush and called for international action against the ex-president. In November 2010, another document referred to the defense of the use of techniques such as “waterboarding” in the fight against terrorism. Such techniques were used at Guantanamo and at secret CIA prisons around the world. And, in 2010, the former president canceled a visit to Switzerland, for fear of being arrested.

For its part, Washington also just denounced the “systematic repression” of human rights in Cuba. Everywhere, then, it is preached, but not practiced. Or, is it that just as we go … we are going wrong.