Editorial: Iraq has become America's shame
08.05.2004
Words," a senior State Department official observed this week, "cannot
argue with photos." It was his way of saying that pictures of naked
Iraqi prisoners being humiliated and abused by American soldiers had
dented severely, perhaps irretrievably, the United States' reputation,
especially in the Muslim world.
For all that President George W. Bush might condemn the mistreatment
and vow that those responsible will be punished, the damage has been
done. For all that the White House might maintain that these were
isolated incidents, the credibility of the US lies in tatters. And
rightly so, given the indignities perpetrated on the inmates of the
Abu Ghraib prison - and the mounting indication that the abuse was far
from isolated.
The Red Cross has intimated as much by revealing it has repeatedly
urged the US to take "corrective action" at the jail. Its statement
carries particular weight. The Red Cross airs its views only rarely;
when it does, an acute frustration over American shortcomings and
inactivity can be taken as read. Equally critical has been Amnesty
International, which says it has "received frequent reports of torture
or ill-treatment by coalition forces during the past year".
The American troops who carried out these outrages have, in
time-honoured tradition, claimed they were merely "following orders".
That, in itself, suggests the abuse was not isolated. It also points
to US military intelligence stooping to a form of mental torture
designed to have the maximum impact in a patriachal society such as
Iraq.
Nothing could be calculated to humiliate Arab men more than sexual
degradation in full view of grinning female soldiers. Effectively,
their manhood was being stripped away. Indeed, given Arab
sensibilities, a woman should probably never have been appointed to
control the Abu Ghraib prison.
Such sadism is, of course, strictly prohibited by international
humanitarian law. Yet September 11 appears to have convinced some in
the Bush Administration that niceties need no longer apply. To them,
the magnitude of al Qaeda's assault made the old rules redundant. Thus
hundreds of "detainees" are being held in Iraq, Afghanistan and at
Guantanamo Bay under special "enemy combatant" status, denying them
the formal rights of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.
Additionally, the White House made it clear in the wake of the Twin
Towers outrage that it saw no need to account to either friend or foe
for its behaviour. There needed be no giant leap for that bankrupt
attitude to find its way down to those who policed the Abu Ghraib
prison.
Even now, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in no mood for making
explanations, or for paying heed to Arab sensitivities. Asked early
this week whether President Bush should officially apologise - a
gesture that would carry weight in Arab societies - he responded: "I
haven't focused on the war of ideas, to be honest with you." Yet once
the war for hearts and minds is lost, a prospect rendered many times
more likely by the pictures from Baghdad, there is little chance of
rebuilding Iraq in the American image.
Such blundering has become the hallmark of the US-led occupation.
Militarily, it reached its zenith with the siege of Fallujah. That
planned demonstration of might succeeded only in illustrating the
limitations of American military power. The outcome has fortified
popular resistance to an increasingly detested foreign presence.
Battlefield setbacks can be recovered. But the pictures from Abu
Ghraib are a different proposition. They make a mockery of all the US
preaches. Muslims throughout the world are incensed, so much so that
it is difficult to see how the damage can be minimised. The
court-martialling of a few of the culprits will cut little ice.
Perhaps America's only ally is time - and that is in short supply if
anything is to be salvaged from the desolation of Iraq.
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