perfidy

See if you can spot what's wrong in this short piece from the New York Times:

SUDAN REGAINS HUMAN RIGHTS SEAT: Sudan was elected to another three-year term on the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights, but the United States delegation, citing allegations of ethnic cleansing in Sudan's western Darfur region, walked out of the meeting before the vote. The deputy representative of Sudan, Omar Bashir Manis, accused the United States of "shedding crocodile tears," and said American forces had committed atrocities against prisoners and civilians in Iraq. Sudan ran uncontested, as one of four nations chosen by the African Regional Group to fill four allotted vacancies on the commission. Daniel B. Schneider (NYT)

Now that's rich. Not only is the Sudan home to a continuing human-slavery industry, and not only has the Sudan been the site of various atrocities, imbroligos, attempted genocides, and general antihumanitarian mayhem for the past fifty years, but they are also a member of the UN's Human Rights council and have the temerity to claim that the actions of some US soldiers and civilians are worthy of scorn in comparison. The difference between us and them: we're punishing soldiers for humiliating and torturing POWs; they're harboring slave traders. Good for our delegates for walking out of that vote.

Not that all this is surprising or anything; it just gets my goat. When the Sudan can score hits off your human rights record, you know it's been a bad week.