Before commenting on the sexual violence against the Iraqi prisoners, I would like to congratulate the readers on the occasion of Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi (birthday celebrations of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him). I pray to Allah (God) that He may enable us to act upon the teachings of the last prophet of God. I also pray to God that He may enable us to understand and follow the teachings of the Holy Quran and stop using it as a symbol of decoration in our homes.
By the grace of Allah, there are 60 Muslim countries in the world. Population-wise, we the Muslims, are one-fifth of the humanity. But because of our divisions and disunity, we have become the most oppressed people. We remain happy and contented by our dependence on “others” and keep on fighting amongst ourselves. The annual procession marking the Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi celebrations was taken out last Sunday with traditional religious fervor from “little Pakistan” located on Coney Island Avenue, the heart of New York, the city, which is rightly called the heart of the United States. More than 4,500 faithful participated in the procession. The generous business owners on the Coney Island Avenue sought the pleasure of Allah by entertaining the participants of the procession with coffee, tea, different cold drinks and traditional South Asian food. A special Milad function for the women was held in Queens. I believe that all those people who are working to promote and serve Islam, the Quran and the Urdu language in the US are working on my mission. Therefore, I congratulate all such friends involved in these noble endeavors. We must make successful all our religious and national festivals all across the United States. We must not think who are arranging these functions to serve their religion and nation. Rather we should look at the noble work they are involved in. Therefore, we must actively participate in these events.
Now we come to Iraq. American people abhor and condemn, even today, the treatment of German dictator Adolf Hitler with the Jews. And the world saw again some shocking treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of the soldiers of the lone superpower and champion of human rights, which is occupying that country. The images of U.S. male and female soldiers smilingly making victory signs and enjoying the helplessness of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners, who were forced to perform unnatural sexual acts with each other, has seriously undermined the credibility of the United States in the community of nations.
The Abu Ghraib prison, some 20 miles off Baghdad, has historically remained a symbol of terror and fear. The jail, spread over 280 acres – consisting of five compounds – and surrounded by high barbed wire and 24 watch towers, was constructed by a British firm in 1960. Almost all the stories of Saddam Hussain’s cruelty and excesses against Iraqi people, appearing in the American and Western media, somehow refer to Abu Ghraib jail. Saddam Hussain announced amnesty for all prisoners locked here on the occasion of a national referendum in 2002. The portrait of Saddam Hussain, however, was removed from the Abu Ghraib prison after the “Iraq conquest” and the toppling of his regime. The Iraqi leader’s portrait at the prison was replaced by a slogan “America is a friend of all Iraqi people.” It’s main signboard, which read “Abu Ghraib Jail” was replaced by another board, reading “Baghdad Correctional Facility.” The world is at loss to understand that incidents of savagery, inhuman treatment and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of their American friends at this very prison and which is eroding America’s credibility at the international level. Now such incidents are also being reported from other Iraqi prisons.
Video clips from the American television channel CBS’s “60 Minute” program are being splashed by televisions and pictures printed by newspapers across the globe which shows US male and female soldiers (!) giving electric shocks to naked Iraqi prisoners, (2) forcing prisoners to commit unnatural sexual acts with each other, (3) burning sensitive parts of prisoners’ bodies with cigarettes, (4) abusive language being printed on prisoners bodies (5) and British soldiers urinating on Iraqi prisoners.
Reports of such incidents in other Iraqi jails have also started surfacing now. Demands for action against the administrator of Iraq’s 30 prisons, a 50-year-old lady officer of the U.S. Army, Brigadier General Janice Karpinski, are on the rise. Meanwhile six American soldiers are under investigation for prisoner’s abuse. One of the suspended sergeants of the U.S. Army has pleaded in his defense that he and his associates did not know any thing about the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war. He said he was never briefed on the international law governing prisoners of war.
The commander-in-chief of the US Army President Bush, for his part, says he is saddened and shocked by the actions of a few army personnel. This is my considered opinion that President Bush’s political adversaries are opening new political fronts against him to ensure his defeat in the November elections. Mr. Bush’s political credibility is on the decline not only in the Arab and Muslim world but also in the United States itself. The President must order an investigation to ascertain as to why and who ordered inhuman treatment and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners. Otherwise many people would demand that representatives of human rights groups and International Committee of Red Cross be allowed to visit Muslim prisoners held both in the United States and Iraq, to know their well being. I would welcome comments and opinion from my readers on this issue who can contact me at pakustravel@aol.com. In conclusion it would be fair to say that the champions of human rights, the people of the United States, are also not digesting these actions of U.S. Army personnel. That’s why opposition to President Bush’s war policy is increasing which could harm the president just like his father in the upcoming election in November. Therefore, an early investigation is a must.
