Why the Swiss Have a Good Shot at the World Cup

For football, I'd do anything, and I mean soccer, of course. Even this:
Zigarrenbaron und Fussballfreaks on Blick Online. For more info about the movie project "The Kick - NYC", write to me, any input, sponsoring ideas and alliances are welcome. It's little known, but a fact, that for some reason many Swiss were involved in the beginning of building up national and then international leagues and tournaments. FC St. Gall, for example is the oldest Soccer Club on the continental Europe. Or ask Peter Brunschweiler about South Africa. Also in our little team in NYC, the Swiss are overrepresented with about a fourth of all members. So if it runs deep through the Swiss soul, even abroad, to pass that ball, why shouldn't they have a fair change to go somewhere during the World Cup this summer in Germany?

"More Holes than a Swiss Cheese"

Just keeping an eye out for the swiss reputation in the USA. Here's somebody at Human Events
slashing Marty's report badly. The Americans just hate it when the Europeans tell them what to do.

"In addition, the United Nations, with its hugely discredited human rights apparatus in tow, could not resist the opportunity to take a swipe at the United States. Louise Arbour, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, launched a fierce attack on America's "so-called war on terrorism," condemning U.S. interrogation techniques and the rendition of terrorist suspects. While millions languish under the boot of brutal dictatorships from Rangoon to Pyongyang to Tehran, the UN’s chief concern on its "Human Rights Day" last December was U.S. tactics in the battle against the most barbaric terrorist movement in modern history.

The Council of Europe Report

The European Parliament's investigation follows a major inquiry by the Council of Europe, which published its initial findings in late January. In presenting his report, Dick Marty, the Council’s Rapporteur, condemned the "gangster-style methods" of the Bush Administration, stating that "individuals have been abducted, deprived of their liberty and all rights, and transported to different destinations in Europe, to be handed over to countries in which they have suffered degrading treatment and torture."

On closer examination however, Marty's case is paper-thin and lacks any concrete evidence. If this case were presented in a court of law, it would be dismissed out of hand. In the words of Denis MacShane, the UK's former Minister for Europe, the report has "more holes than a Swiss cheese."

Marty's report contains no primary source documentation and relies entirely upon media accounts. It is filled with conjecture, innuendo, and a barely disguised sneering contempt for the U.S. approach to the war on terrorism. For example, Marty concludes that "the current U.S. Administration seems to start from the principle that the principles of the rule of law and human rights are incompatible with efficient action against terrorism," a clear misrepresentation of the U.S. position.

Significantly, the Council of Europe's report admits, "At this stage of the investigations, there is no formal, irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret CIA detention centers in Romania, Poland or any other country." It cites the findings of an investigation appointed by the Romanian Parliament and conducted by OADO, a human rights NGO, that "do not seem to provide any evidence of such centers." Nevertheless, the report freely cites rumors and circumstantial and highly ambiguous facts as justification for condemning U.S. efforts to protect itself and its allies against terrorist attacks. ... "