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# Posted 12:49 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

HUMAN RIGHTS AFTER ABU GHRAIB: On Thursday, NPR's All Things Considered explored the difficulties of American efforts to promote human rights after the scandal at Abu Ghraib.

The best thing about the NPR story is that it includes interviews with both Lorne Craner and Harold Koh, the Assistant Secretaries of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under Bush and Clinton, respectively. Their perspectives, especially Craner's are well-worth hearing.

On the downside, the NPR story has the usual negative spin you might expect from, well, NPR. It describes Abu Ghraib as devastating to American credibility and reports that Craner has to begin his meetings with Middle Eastern diplomats by apologizing for what America's soldiers did.

As well he should. But NPR fails to note that Middle Eastern demands for such apologies are part of a cynical effort by oppressive dictatorships to deflect attention from their own horrific human rights violations -- for which they never apologize -- by pointing their collective finger at the United States of America.

Interestingly, NPR notes parenthetically that no one questioned the United States' credibility when it sought to confront human rights violations in Sudan. Apparently, in the face of a real humanitarian crisis, cynical posturing sometimes gives way respectful silence.

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