[Vision2020] Tibetan Fight for Freedom

[Garrett Clevenger]

As Tibetan monks continue to struggle against the
repressive Chinese regime, Bush prepares to attend the
Olympics in China, ignoring the hypocrisy of letting
the Chinese get a way with attacking people who want
their freedom, something they enjoyed prior to the
Chinese invading and occupying Tibet.  The Bush regime
ignores China's horrendous human rights record, while
telling us that our cause in Iraq is worth the blood,
pain, money and hypocritical actions of the US towards
innocent civilians in Iraq.

I find it unreasonable for the Bush regime to ignore
the Tibetans struggle for freedom and allow the
Chinese to send us poisoned products made from
slave-like labor.  If Tibet had oil, I'm sure the US
would be there to stop the Chinese.  If China did not
have a tremendous amount of power over us in terms of
holding much of our debt and supplying us with cheap
products, we probably would take a stronger stand
towards them.  Instead, we give them Most Favored
Trading status and condone their violent behavior. 
Perhaps like-attracts-like.

We need leaders who understands that perceptions
matter.  The world sees what China is doing to
Tibetans, though since media is severely restricted,
there's no way we know the extent of the brutality. 
We've seen what has happened to Iraq since the US
invasion.  We can guess what is happening in Tibet. 
Both are unacceptable and if the US is going to pursue
occupying Iraq to insure their liberty, the least the
US could do is be consistent and insist that China
allow Tibetans their freedom.  Otherwise, the US
hypocrisy insures we are not taken seriously and we
will suffer for not standing up for our principles in
all fronts.

Garrett