by Mark Weisbrot, CommonDreams.org, Sept. 11, 2011
“We support your war of terror,” proclaims Borat to a cheering crowd of Americans in a stadium, in the popular Sacha Baron Cohen film. The crowd apparently thinks he got the preposition wrong, but what makes the line darkly humorous is that he didn’t.
Most of the victims of America’s wars that are supposedly “against terror” have been civilians, and torture has also been deployed as a weapon. Civilians in Pakistan are killed on average every week in drone strikes, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and also regularly in Afghanistan in “night raids.”
And sometimes they are just shot point blank, as in March 2006 when US soldiers reportedly executed at least 10 civilians, including a 70-year old woman and a 5-month old baby, and then called in an airstrike to bomb the house and cover it up. Arecently discovered US diplomatic cable from Wikileaks provides evidence of this crime. Iraq veteranEthan McCord says that killings of civilians by US forces was “standard operating procedure” while he was deployed there.
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“We support your war of terror,” proclaims Borat to a cheering crowd of Americans in a stadium, in the popular Sacha Baron Cohen film. The crowd apparently thinks he got the preposition wrong, but what makes the line darkly humorous is that he didn’t.
Most of the victims of America’s wars that are supposedly “against terror” have been civilians, and torture has also been deployed as a weapon. Civilians in Pakistan are killed on average every week in drone strikes, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and also regularly in Afghanistan in “night raids.”
And sometimes they are just shot point blank, as in March 2006 when US soldiers reportedly executed at least 10 civilians, including a 70-year old woman and a 5-month old baby, and then called in an airstrike to bomb the house and cover it up. Arecently discovered US diplomatic cable from Wikileaks provides evidence of this crime. Iraq veteranEthan McCord says that killings of civilians by US forces was “standard operating procedure” while he was deployed there.
Continues >>
2 comments:
It is disturbing to see that torture has become such a widespread, and accepted, practice for dealing with suspects. I thought that there were bourgeois revolutions, such as the English and French, where habeas corpus was a important reason motivating the revolutionaries. That means, the authorities cannot just lock up anybody on a whim - there has to be a pile of evidence, and charges have to be made clear to the person arrested.
But these legal and civil processes have been eroded in our era of police-state surveillance, spying and frame-ups. Looks like we need another revolution.
Rupen Savoulian, you rightly point out how torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners and suspects have become a common practice and a social disease even in those countries which have democratic forms of government and are based on the rule of rule.
What is our task in this regard? We who uphold human dignity, human values and respect for life of every individual who for any reason comes in the custody of state authorities should be treated humanely and according to the universal principles of law and justice. Torture can never be accepted as a form of punishment by any sane person . Wherever there is any violation of such basic rules , which are for safeguarding the rights of detainees or suspects, we should side with the victims, raise our voices in their support and mobilise public opinion to highlight the sufferings of such people so that the authorities stop their unlawful methods and inhumane treatment of the prisoners or people under custody.
Any humane change in this state of affairs will amount to a revolution in support of humanity and strengthen the rule of law. That's what we want now.
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