1.8.05
Spent some time over the past days watching the workings on the hill, namely the filed objection to the Ohio election results, and subsequent debates. Also watched some of the AG confirmation hearings on CSPAN. Noticed how AG stands for Attorney General as well as Alberto Gonzales.
I’m convinced that the opinions of AG in 2002 had more than just something to do with the policies set in place that allowed it to happen. This memo in itself will have long lasting on our foreign policy, and image to the rest of the world as a just nation. Decisions like this that affect the rest of the country should not have been made behind closed doors, behind secret meetings. If America is going to now condone torture then the people and Congress should be consulted. And he can’t skirt away the responsibility for this. It says a lot that Dubya lacks any basic respect for human rights and dignity for continuing to push these nominees for cabinet positions.
If we as Americans are willing to condone torture for our enemies, then we should be willing to accept that atrocities like Abu Ghraib are a possibility, and a future reality. Accountability should be directed at our representatives and leaders in congress, and the white house, not just the foot soldier, and especially not those that speak out about it. Much of the criticism I hear from the right about the confirmation hearing so far has been at the media for showing this ugly side of war. Instead of addressing the root of the problem, they attack the bearer of bad news.
While almost all Americans expressed their concern and disgust on the pictures of torture and sexual assault that occured at Abu Ghraib I doubt that many of them realize the factors that come into play, and to what level of personal responsibility do we all carry. I also wonder whether it was the barbarism of the actual acts that was disturbing, or the thought that the beloved icon of the generic American military personnel could commit such atrocities. As seen in some American’s empty excuses for what had happened, some say that it was not representative of what the majority of the troops are doing in Iraq, others say that their actions are justified because of the new climate that we live in post 9-11.
Both of these arguements fail to convince me for a number of reasons. First off, people who try to discredit these as isolated incidents fail to recognize the extent of prejudice and racism in America, and its role in motivating soldiers to conduct their duties in war. Prejudices towards a group of people are used to justify our negative views or treatment of them. In times of war dehumanizing the enemy is accomplished by focusing on the differences between countries and cultures is instilling a sense of revenge and justification towards killing the enemy. In this case it 9-11 has served well as a dual motivating force, we have a sudden, and collectively unexpected attack on a civilian target which was carried out by 19 young men who were all part of the same ethnic group. It does not take much more to bring out the prejudice and racism after that.
Some of this anger we observed came right after 9-11 when the major media channels broadcasted footage of Palestinians cheering. Aside from the fact that the footage was later found to be recycled from the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, it struck a nerve in many Americans that “they” must pay. Due to media hype and misinformation by many factors, such as the fact that a good number of Americans still think that there is a proven link between 9-11 and Iraq, and recent polls showing that that Americans are willing to curtail the civil rights of American citizens that belong to the same ethnic group, all point to the capabilities of Americans committing human rights violations.
This definition of “They” was reinforced by all kinds of prejudice and stereotypes spanning across several ethnic, political, religious and national lines. Effectively what this attitude represents is our willingness to wage cultural war well beyond our national borders to no limits or consequences of our own. Out of vengence we are willing to force the world to their knees to impose our moral will and way of life. The troops on the ground are an extention of America, if the public opinion points towards a dehumanized view of Arabs, then it would not be surprising that a number of troops do as well. Reports of torture and abuse are still coming in, although none of which getting quite as much press as Abu Ghraib did. Just because CNN and FOX aren’t reporting, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
Secondly, 9-11 did not automatically void all international treaties or agreements, regardless of what the collective American public may think or feel. To have this attitude that we are above the world, or above all international law because somebody finally was able to retaliate against our grossly evasive foreign policy is counterproductive, not to mention ironic. One of the purposes of the Geneva convention was to acknowledge the horrors of war and the utter brutality that nation states are capable of unleasing upon prisoners of war. To say that this treaty does not apply to our new postmodern war on a noun makes all the sacrifices that millions of people gave in the previous world wars go to waste, in that we as a nation are scaling back a recognition of human rights and dignity even in the most chaotic of times, war. To put it in simple American terms, we are spitting on the graves of our uncles and countrymen who died for “freedom”. We are ripping up the very rights that they fought and died for.
Our new foreign policy of pre-emptive invasion and nation-building is already suffering in part due to this change in policy. No nation that advocates torturing human beings can expect to the rest of the world to accept any form of government and political system that disregards human rights to go quietly or obediently. We will have to force the world to go along with our policies just as we force information out of these detainees or enemy combatants, or what ever official legalese title we wish to give them. We as a nation have neither the resources or the will to continue along this path, and I hope that people will eventually start to realize this and start to demand accountability.