17 - 23 January 2002
Issue No.569
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 17 - 23 January 2002 Issue No.569 |
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An end to humanity
The human conscience can only recoil in disgust from the US administration's rapid fall into what it calls the war on terrorism. The gap grows ever wider between the noble aims Washington initially proclaimed and the double standards, the kowtowing to Israel's violent stupidity and the vindictive triumphalism that now prevail.
I initially believed that President Bush intended to destroy terrorist networks worldwide. The Arabs, like others, provided support and encouragement before agreeing on a precise definition of international terrorism, and bore, however reluctantly, the brunt of the accusations heaped on Muslims and Islam. In return, we were promised an end to Israel's occupation of Palestine; we were told, moreover, that the war on terrorism would not be used as a pretext to get even with the Arab states on Washington's hit list.
As soon as the US forces had realised their primary objective, however, Washington's position shifted radically. Israel emerged on the scene as a significant influence on American policy, and the European role receded, signally failing to provide a level-headed deterrent to the more right-wing extremist elements in Bush's government.
Washington gave Israel free reign in dealing with Arafat and the Palestinian people, supporting acts of aggression against Palestinian civilians and Arafat's person. Sharon has such influence in Washington that he can now order America to place the Palestinian resistance and Hizbullah on its list of terrorist targets; similarly, he has demanded that Iran's power be curbed, that Iraq be struck and that Lebanon be taught a lesson. And Israel, of course, has helped draw up the plans to accomplish all this.
The double standards -- need we say it again? -- are obvious. Israel perpetrates war crimes, destroying hundreds of homes, making thousands of Palestinians homeless, ploughing across the runways of Gaza Airport, murdering civilians and decimating the resistance. America gives itself the right to bomb Afghan villages and kill thousands of innocent villagers, arguing that collateral damage is both inevitable and justified. The Palestinians are guilty of terrorism if one or two settlers are killed in the course of suicide operations that take place in response to a military occupation that rejects peace and violates diplomatic agreements.
It is not strange, in this light, that the American administration -- rather than adopting policies suited to its status as a world power responsible for international interests -- should commit brutal acts of revenge against Taliban and Al-Qa'eda fighters its forces have taken prisoner. What America found distasteful in the acts of the Viet Cong or Milosevic's militias has suddenly become a source of pride. Yet the methods it has used in transporting the prisoners (chained, blindfolded and drugged) and locking them in cages where they will remain hidden for the foreseeable future are nothing to be proud of -- indeed, are less than human.
In response to the outcry from human rights organisations and the Red Cross, Washington has decided that these prisoners are not subject to the Geneva Convention because they are armed outlaws -- an inanity that does not respect logic and confirms the Bush administration's need for sensible figures like late Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who refused to wage a war against Iran in the Carter era. In committing these brutal and inhuman crimes, America is paving the way to a new era: one in which the achievements of the past half century will be cast aside resolutely.
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