- After publication of the shocking pictures of Iraqi
prisoners
being tortured and degraded by their American prison guards, who can
disagree
with them if Iraqis feel they have simply exchanged one tyranny for
another?
-
- The battle for Iraqi hearts and minds was already fast
being lost with the savage attack on Fallujah; this has finished it off
altogether. What excuse can Washington offer? One of President Bush's
excuses
for overthrowing Saddam was that he was ousting a regime that tortured
and humiliated Iraqis. The Americans are now seen as no different. Clearly,
some US soldiers think that Iraqis can be humiliated, tortured and
degraded.
The question is whether this was an isolated incident. Or does the rot
go further? No matter what crimes these prisoners may have committed; no
matter the fact that Saddam Hussein treated his prisoners far worse;
nothing
excuses such revolting treatment.
-
- What is even more outrageous is the reported claim by
some from the US prison guards arrested that they had not been trained
how to handle detainees properly. Such an excuse begs belief. Does a
soldier
need to be trained to know that humiliation and torture of helpless
individuals
is utterly unacceptable in a civilized society? What about all these
American
values of fairness, decent behavior and the rule of law, in whose names
the US claims to be acting? These soldiers are supposed to be
representatives
of the "Land of the Free. Saddam Hussein would have been happy to
have employed them. It is simply no good to have the deputy head of the
coalition forces in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt acting as if this was
just an unfortunate blip in the US record in Iraq. His reaction shows that
Americans do not understand the outrage felt by Arabs at men being forced
to strip naked, treated like sex slaves, made to do so in front of women,
and photographed into the bargain. This is sheer depravity.
-
- Being up-front and frank about the error does not
diminish
its seriousness. Indeed, given the fact that this investigation began in
March and only leaked now thanks to CBS, it is clear that the US
authorities
had no intention of being up-front and frank.
-
- What is no less shocking about the degrading photos from
Abu Gharib prison is that not a single US newspaper yesterday led its front
page with news of them. That is a further demonstration of the appallingly
limited comprehension of the Middle East that runs from the White House
down to the humblest New York burger stall. In truth, the American behavior
in Iraq could not have been more inept or more disastrous if George Bush
had handed the planning of the occupation to Saddam Hussein himself.
Ignorant,
stubborn, naive and outstandingly stupid, the Americans have done pretty
well everything wrong.
-
- http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=44146&d=1&
amp;m=5&y=2004
|
