WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday expressed outrage that Cuba has been re-elected to the U.N. Human Rights Commission (search), only three weeks after rounding up dozens of dissidents and sending them to prison.
Sounds like th U.N. to me.
"This is a setback for the cause of human rights. Cuba does not deserve a seat on the Human Rights Commission. Cuba deserves to be investigated by the Human Rights Commission," said White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer.
"The Human Rights Commission wanted to send investigators into Cuba and Cuba said 'no.' And yet, today, Cuba gets re-elected to the Human Rights Commission. It raises troubling issues, and that's why the United States is speaking out about it," Fleischer said.
"You have to keep in mind that Libya is the chairman of this committee. There are some things that happen at the United Nations that it's very hard for anybody to explain," Fleischer said.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Economic Social Council Sichan Siv (search), who served as the U.S. representative at Tuesday's commission meeting, got up and walked out when it became clear Cuba was going to win the vote.
"It was an outrage for us because we view Cuba as the worst violator of human rights in this hemisphere," he said.
This should help keep the "Get out of the U.N." ball rolling.
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