Who's kidding whom?
Nyier Abdou finds a report on human rights abuses in Iraq issued by the British government overshadowed by conspicuous timing
As a collection of shocking accounts of systematic torture by a brutal regime, "Saddam Hussein: Crimes and Human Rights Abuses" is a damning indictment of the Iraqi leadership. As a tool of conversion, the report, issued by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London on 2 December, is far less effective. The report, which draws on data collected by prominent human rights organisations, testimonies of exiles and intelligence sources, is undeniably harrowing. And yet, the timing of its release is impossible to ignore.
Describing Iraq as a "terrifying place to live" the FCO report details gruesome torture methods used in interrogation, as well as inhumane prison conditions, serial raping of female prisoners, summary beheadings performed in front of the victim's family and the impunity enjoyed by Hussein's sons Udayy and Qusayy. But with the United States pressing ahead with its military build- up in the region, many human rights activists are uncomfortable with the cause of human rights being yoked to the war drive. "Nobody wants more information that Iraq is abusing human rights," remarks Alaa Shalaby, spokesman for the Cairo-based Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR). "We all know. Every year we're talking about human rights abuses in Iraq."
Noting that it seems the US and Britain have already taken the decision to invade Iraq, Shalaby told Al-Ahram Weekly that in this context, the report should be seen as part of a larger campaign to lay the groundwork for imminent attacks. "No one can defend the Iraqi government," he said. "Iraq is one of the [worst] governments violating human rights ... No one can defend this matter; not in Iraq, not anywhere. But we know the intentions beyond this [report]."
Given the taint of propaganda, it is difficult to imagine the report making much headway in stemming the tide of anti-war sentiment in the West or in the Arab world, either at an official, or a public level. A representative of the New York-based Human Rights Watch dismissed the report as "opportunistic and political", noting that the group did not make any official response since the report is far less substantial than it own reporting and that of other human rights organisations. "This report is not going to give us any new facts," concurs the AOHR's Shalaby. "We are not taking [it] seriously."
The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International is copiously referenced in the report -- a fact that does not sit well with the organisation. In a statement made on the day the report was released, Amnesty warned against using the human rights situation in Iraq "selectively", noting that the US and other Western governments "turned a blind eye" to reports by Amnesty on human rights violations in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and the regime's attacks on Kurdish civilians in Halabja in 1988.
It is interesting to speculate on whom the new Iraq dossier, which comes in at a slim, digestible 23 pages, is meant to address. Certainly, those concerned with human rights are already well aware of the brutalities of Hussein's regime and need no reminder. Meanwhile, accusations made against repressive techniques used by Hussein may hit too close to home in some of the nations Downing Street is presumably trying to win over. "All real authority rests with Saddam and his immediate circle," the report states. "Saddam is head of state, head of government, leader of Iraq's only political party and head of the armed forces."
Journalists and political analysts have seized on the report's timing and its use of human rights abuses to further the overarching political agenda of toppling Hussein. And yet, the FCO must surely have known that this point would be underscored in the media, thus undermining the full import of the report's contents. Bahaeddin Hassan, spokesman for the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), suggests that the report is addressed to the larger public, with the aim of offering a "moral justification" for an "immoral war". Asked if he thinks the report will be effective as a way of softening up public opinion for war in Iraq, Hassan maintains that it could have some impact in "some circles of the public", given that the barbaric nature of the regime's abuses can only shock and offend any reader of the report.
Though he agrees that it is positive to see these abuses brought to public attention, Hassan is equally wary of the means. "The UK hasn't offered this kind of publicity about the human rights record of other countries, especially Israel, which commits war crimes every day," Hassan told the Weekly. He stressed that numerous international groups have repeatedly addressed human rights violations in Iraq in a more comprehensive and less partial manner, but those reports never garnered the kind of publicity allotted the FCO's report. This, he noted, is obviously a source of frustration for those working in the field of human rights.
Equally incensed, the AOHR's Shalaby suggests that some scrutiny should be turned back on Western nations themselves. "Look who's talking about human rights after 11 September?" he asked. "Let's talk about human rights for foreigners in Britain, and Arabs and Muslims in the US." Looking at human rights "in parts" is not enough, he says, emphasising that it is important to accept the concept as a unifying "human principle", rather than a store of information to pick and choose from. "We're not in a market," he adds dryly.
On the US's unabated warmongering, CIHRS's Hassan worries that a dangerous precedent is being set, not by the US, but by Saddam Hussein himself. "Human rights reports mean nothing to him, but he reacted positively to the threat of war," notes Hassan. "Unfortunately, the thing about this growing pressure is that it works -- better than anything else." Hassan points to the tangible results of inordinate pressure on the Iraqi regime: the return of weapons inspectors under a strict Security Council resolution, the delivery of the dossier on Iraq's weapons programme and the alleged release of political prisoners. "Actually, the message of Saddam Hussein is that [this is] what works with him."
