Washington, Dec.2 (ANI): Former members of the George W. Bush administration (2000-2008) have assailed human rights watchdog Amnesty International for demanding the former president's arrest while he and his family are in Africa.
Calling Amnesty's campaign at best a form of "harassment" and at worst a threat, Fox News quoted the officials, as saying the demand was hugely embarrassing.
"They've been trying to get any country where President Bush and Vice President Cheney visit to harass them wherever they go," former Justice Department attorney John Yoo said of Amnesty's actions.
"It could be taken as a call for violence against the president," said Brad Blakeman, a former Bush adviser who accompanied the former president to Africa in 2003.
Blakeman said Amnesty's sustained campaign could be potentially dangerous.
Amnesty said Thursday "there is enough evidence in the public domain" to justify Ethiopia, Tanzania or Zambia arresting the former president during his visit to the region on charges of committing "crimes under international law."
The president is traveling in the three nations between Thursday and Monday to promote AIDS and cancer awareness.
Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also took Amnesty to task for its latest statement.
"If Amnesty International had any intellectual honesty, it would give President Bush a medal to honor him for liberating so many oppressed Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and for assisting millions of AIDS victims in Africa," King said in a statement.
The group last called for Bush's arrest when he was in Canada in October for an economic summit. (ANI)
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