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The United States once faced a similar choice regarding a country called Iraq and a dictator named Saddam Hussein.

The USA chose to consider Iraq an ally despite its poor human rights record. This was done to offset US enemies in neighboring Iran, in the name of stability. The dictator, since he was not pressured to respect human rights, build a democracy, or make any positive changes to his regime, eventually felt he could invade who he liked.

Iraq invaded Kuwait and the rest is history. All that effort for stability, all that promise of the lesser of two evils, and now we have death and destruction on a scale far greater than anyone anticipated, no end in sight.

Have my fellow Americans learned or are we going to repeat it? Sadly, the repetition has already begun.

Ethiopia has received significant military and economic aid from the United States in the name of stability.(1,2) This is to put pressure on US enemies in Somalia. In a December 2007 letter to US Secretary of Defense, Robert M. Gates, Human Rights Watch warned that, "Neither the insurgent forces nor the Ethiopian troops have made any apparent effort to distinguish between civilians and military targets." (3)

For anyone paying attention to news from Iraq, it's a chillingly familiar refrain.

So the answer to the question is "No." The US should not consider Ethiopia an ally despite its poor human rights record. Ethiopia should not be considered anything more than a temporary assistant in the United States' goal of eradicating anyone aligned with Al-Qaeda.

All the aid given to Ethiopia needs to come with strings attached, warnings to conduct themselves according to the Geneva Convention, and work toward a democracy for all ethnic groups in their country.

The USA must stand for more than just making strategic moves on the world's chessboard. If America does not lead the fight for human rights by pressuring their allies (no matter how initially corrupt) then we are just another unremarkable nation looking out for our own short-term interests, instead of what we should be: the greatest civilization in humanity's history, leading the way toward the best in human society.

The fact that the USA habitually overlooks the human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia in exchange for oil and military assistance is one of the greatest failings of my country, the USA. This uneasy partnership with Saudi Arabia has existed for decades. If respect for human rights had been made a priority from the start, Saudi Arabia could be a modernized nation that others wrestling with internal strife (like Ethiopia) could model themselves after.

While interacting with Ethiopia to chase militants will achieve a common goal, the USA must constantly offer incentives that even more meaningful and mutually beneficial interactions await (trade, aid, etc.) should Ethiopia improve its human rights record.

We cannot let violent acts of terrorists define us. Rather, we should react in a way that fashions our definition into something we can be proud of: a nation that champions human rights.

SOURCES:
1.) Ethiopia: Tainted Ally. Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting.
http://www.pulitzerc enter.org/showproject.cfm?id=2 9

2.) Making Exceptions for Ethiopia by Tom Porteous. The Guardian Unlimited. January 30, 2008.
http://commentisfree.guar dian.co.uk/tom_porteous/2008/0 1/making_exceptions_for_ethiop ia.html

3.) Letter to US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates on Somalia by Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director. December 12, 2007.
http://hrw.org/english/do cs/2007/12/12/usint17552.htm

Learn more about this author, Larry Nocella.
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