The Violence and Abuse of Prisoners
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay
The large antiwar poster showed one of the terrible
photos from the US operated Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. A man standing
on a crate, his arms outstretched and electric wires attached to each
hand, his head hooded as he was being subjected to physical and mental
torture. The many more photographs taken by dozens of US soldiers of
acts of sexual perversion, humiliation and abuse of prisoners is morally
repulsive and a betrayal of the respect for human life and the dignity
of every person that the United States of America says it stands for.
The responsibility for these violations of human rights cannot be laid
at the feet of a few untrained prison guards as President George W. Bush
and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are trying to do. There is no
escaping the fact that the responsibility goes to the top of the Bush
administration. As the courageous Filipino born US Major General Antonio
Taguba reported to the US Senate this was a high level failure of
leadership and command. The president is the Commander in Chief, he
should have known and acted to stop it. He failed to do so.
Soldiers accused of participating in the shameful acts claim they were
following orders. That does not excuse them or their commanders. It is a
moral duty to refuse to obey an illegal and immoral order. That was
clearly established by the US led war crimes trials of the German High
Command after the defeat of Nazi Germany. It is also clear at the war
crimes tribunal in De Hague of the Bosnian leadership. The shame and
embarrassment felt by the majority of decent Americans who have trusted
their government to conduct the war according to the conventions of the
Geneva Convention and the norms of protecting human rights are already
expressing their disgust by switching their support from Bush to his
rival John Kerry.
The Bush administration was aware of these abuses since the of last
January, if not before. Because the International Red Cross had reported
the abuses but were apparently brushed aside by the Bush officials. The
administration was desperate to get more military information about the
uprising in Baghdad that was taking the lives of US troops and damaging
the reelection bid of President George W. Bush. The International Red
Cross established, as reported by the Wall street Journal, that 70 to 90
percent of the prisoners had done nothing wrong and were arrested and
abused in a routine and systematic way. Their families were threatened
and the Iraq police under the control of the US occupation forces have
done even worse by burning, beating and sending them to concentration
camps according to the Red Cross report.
This is more than shocking, it is outrageous. The war, illegal as it is
without UN backing and approval, was supposedly justified because of the
immediate threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction which were never found.
That was one painful lie. Then it was to remove the tyrant Saddam
Hussein because of his oppressive and torturous regime. Now that
justification is falling apart as the stream of photos from the US
troops themselves are evidence of more or less the same human rights
abuses and torture techniques as employed by the dictator they deposed.
Hypocrisy never ends.
The international public revulsion at this war and the outrage of the
American people at the photographs and the investigations by the US
senate is encouraging. At least something is being done to bring these
abuses to an end in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere we hope. The ploy of
President George Wabash to declare all prisoners illegal combatants and
not protected by the Geneva convention or the rules of war was an
insidious avoidance of the rule of law and a denial of the prisoners
rights.
Why soldiers would enjoy such acts of abuse, sexual perversion, and
gross violation of the human rights of others is based in the depravity
of the people involved and their lack of human feelings, compassion and
respect for other human beings. The approval, consent by silence, demand
for results by commander’s by whatever means is also behind it. This too
is the evil of war. It becomes a justification of every violation of the
moral code. Rape, plunder and abuse are deemed acceptable because it is
war according to those that see violence as the only way to solve human
conflicts of interests. Nothing justifies wrongdoing and evil. The
administration of President Bush has laid the ground for the abuse by
withdrawing recognition and participation in many international treaties
that protect the environment and human rights. It declared US troops
would not be subject to the International Court of Justice. Now we know
why and see the results. They have an arrow.
This is the very reason that active non-violence protest and diplomatic
dialogue is so necessary. America was greatly respected and esteemed
under the presidency of Jimmy Carter, his respect for human rights was a
beacon for hope and light for the world. The greatness and influence of
America was seen as a positive force for change in the world and we
admired and were grateful for that leadership and in a lesser way for
the administration of former President Bill Clinton. The United States
bill of Rights and the constitution has been seriously betrayed in this
war that has no justification, no workable plan to end the violence
return to a dignified civilian rule. It is a fiasco from begging to end
and we can only trust the good sense and moral rectitude of the American
people of conscience to bring it to a swift end.
End
