Every passing day brings a new (leaked) report of American troops inflicting prolonged, gratuitous torture on suspected terror detainees, be they in Afghan or Iraq - and murdering of the recent two - makes a mockery of Bush administration claims that prisoner abuse is the fault of a few rogue soldiers.
Most of us are already desensitized to these reports. How stupid does this administration think the American people are? Or are they fooling the World? They are not even able to fool the most uncivilized and illeterate of them all, the Muslims.
It's been a year since President Bush first used the "few bad apples" excuse following abuse revelations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Since then, other reports have rolled in of torture of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the far-flung countries where the United States has outsourced prisoner abuse.
When anyone is held responsible, it is low-ranking service people and even they are let go with 6 months behind doors, after they plead..."so very remorseful and guilty".
High-ranking officers have almost without exception been found blameless and shameless. And Mr. Bush feigns horror at every new revelation, even though he set the stage for torture when he determined in 2002 that the Geneva Conventions don't apply to terror suspects.
The only way for the United States to salvage its reputation in the world and among its own citizens is through the appointment of an independent federal investigator on detainee abuse. But would it ever do? How cleverly Mr. Bush dissolved the cry for an independent enquiry into the 9/11 incidents after he appointed and fired Mr. Henry Kissinger, never to hear about it again.
Anyways, The latest torture accounts come from an internal Army investigation file obtained last week by The New York Times. It shows American military men and women engaging in hideous, immoral acts - the best part often for the fun of it.
One victim was a 22-year-old shy, uneducated and slightly built Afghan taxi driver. Within four days of his detention at America's Bagram center in Afghanistan, most of the man's interrogators were convinced he was innocent of wrongdoing.
But he was interrogated one last time anyway, and died.
Like many prisoners at Bagram, the man's wrists had been shackled to the ceiling for most of his stay. In one 24-hour period, soldiers took turns striking him on the side of his legs just above his knees - a potentially disabling blow used regularly at Bagram.
Soldiers thought it was funny that after every strike the man called "Allah."
An autopsy later showed the man's legs ''had basically been pulpified."
This is sadism.
Mr. Bush's spokesman says allegations about Bagram are "being investigated thoroughly." But 2½ years after the taxi driver and another man were killed there, no one has been convicted. Only seven individuals have been charged, although Army investigators found cause to charge 27.
If this administration is serious about improving America's image in the Islamic world, then it must stop acting as if one mistake in reporting by Newsweek is to blame for the distrust and hatred of Americans abroad. It must start treating detainees, most of whom are Muslim, as humans.
1 comment:
Let’s put things in perspective. The Taliban, whom the world considers to be ‘Monsters’, had arrested 24 workers of the evangelist organizations, Christian international Aid Agency and Shelter Now International, including two American missionaries for proselytizing in defiance of the Afghan law which forbade such activities (apparently the Taliban were not aware that Christians made the rules in Afghanistan), and they also arrested Yvonne Ridley, the famous British journalist who made headlines upon her capture. In both cases the Taliban DID NOT beat, rape, molest, humiliate, burn, electrocute, hang, castrate, sodomize, beat to pulp, curse, rob, urinate or spit on their prisoners. In fact, as Yvonne Ridley later wrote, based upon her fears from what she had assumed about the Taliban and Muslims, she fully expected to be killed upon her capture. Instead, the Taliban fed her better than what they ate, gave her a fresh change of clothes each day and finally released her. Amazed and bewildered Ms. Ridley began studying Islam and finally within the year converted to her new faith-much to the chagrin of British media and church. The missionaries were given the same treatment. They were never abused or tortured in any way or form and were also released. Now compare and contrast this treatment to what the Americans and the British soldiers meted out to the Taliban and the Iraqis. Does it not make one sick with shame and disgust? Do we now recognize who the real “Monsters” are? It is so clear that it is not Muslims who hate us, but we hate them- and we don't even know why. Perhaps reflecting on our history, beginning with the crusades, we can better appreciate what animals we are. A thousand years gone by and we are the same blood thirsty, sadistic pillagers who once tortured, raped and slaughtered with wild abandon in Jerusalem as good Christian soldiers simply doing Christ’s bidding.
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