Cry me a river Yasmin
And give Robert Fisk a big smooch!
Posted on 05/14/2002 6:36:42 PM PDT by vannrox
This week the International Herald Tribune claimed that President Bush had once more asked world citizens to choose whether they are with the US or against it, four months into the "war on terrorism". In the head of this simple man that's all there is to decide in this unpredictable world.
Well, Mr President, on this day in January 2001, I am against the US regime, although I may well change my mind if you change your repellent treatment of the 20 men you have just flown over to the US base in Guantamano, in Cuba. The men, you say, are members of the Taliban or al-Qa'ida and therefore must ( before they are tried by impartial courts) be forcibly drugged, bound, shaved, hooded, chained, and kept in cages which are open to the elements and where they can just about lie down.
To make sure no softie bleeding hearts can interfere with these masculine, tough-guy matters, these captives have been re-branded so that they are no longer "prisoners of war" but "battlefield detainees".
This means that the Geneva conventions and other protocols can be flouted by the land that so loves to proclaim itself as the leader of the free and fair world. Amnesty, the Red Cross and other human rights agencies are alarmed but their squeaks will be disregarded by the most powerful and arrogant nation in the world, which has now found a new kind of moral righteousness since so many of its citizens were murdered on 11 September.
Worse will follow. These prisoners of war (as I insist on calling them) are to face interrogation without the presence of observers, and then they will be tried by emergency military tribunals. If found guilty they will be killed by the US state. Lawyers are to be provided, but their power is limited by the fact that the men are held outside US jurisdiction. The Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, believes that war criminals do not "deserve" basic constitutional protections. The first 20 are to be followed soon by hundreds more, and the bloodlust of the US may then be temporarily satisfied. This level of shocking disregard for humane values must arise from furious frustration. The US and allies toppled the Taliban fast and efficiently but they were not able to deliver to American thanksgiving tables the plucked and trussed body of either bin Laden or Mullah Omar.
Those of us who supported the action against the Taliban have been appalled at the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan. And now we have this new violation to witness. I have just returned from Geneva after an international seminar on human rights. (The priceless Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner, popped in. How does she do her job in such times, you wonder.) and many of us were speechless with incomprehension as to why the US is failing so spectacularly to understand the damage it is inflicting on the new world order through these latest follies.
Is this how the "civilised" world now behaves? Gladstone said in 1879: "Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the wintry snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God as can be your own".
Individuals charged with genocide in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are not demeaned as they go through due process in the Hague. Eichmann and other Nazis were humanely treated during their trials. Many of the prisoners in Cuba may indeed be the lowest and vilest men on earth, which is why they must be guaranteed scrupulously fair treatment. Human rights are fragile and easily crushed unless we are prepared to ensure them for the people we hate and demand their implementation from people we support and admire.
I speak not as a dreamer but as one of the millions around the world who are terrified that this latest Western deceit will massively increase support for terrorism. Dictators and cruel, charismatic leaders will now tell gullible people – quite rightly – that the Western allies kill human rights when it suits them. Such hypocrisy has also been shown up in this country as news emerges of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers being summarily deported to face imprisonment and torture that is real and proven.
In its interesting new book, The Moral Universe, the think tank Demos brings together writers to examine how a shared global morality could replace ideology in the post 11 September world. Fat chance with the captains of cant in charge.
The situation is unbearably serious; citizens of conscience in the UK and the US must speak up, even though they will face accusations of treachery. In Geneva, several Americans accepted the challenge. One was the Sudan- born Dr Abdullahi An-Na'am, a professor of law in Atlanta, who said: "I am a naturalised American but this does not mean that it is my patriotic duty to defend all US policies and actions. The standards I am seeking to apply are enshrined in the universal standards of human rights." Me too.
And give Robert Fisk a big smooch!
(a) Pretty sell sums up the entire being and intent of the author
......and, yes, I seriously doubt the 'supported the action against the Taliban' part...
(b) Gag!
......and...
(c) Puke!
Free speech is free to all, and although I don’t agree with what is here, it is the right for this woman to speak out. The main problem with her rant is the idea that ‘universal standards of human rights’ can exist at all. In fact to achieve a ‘universal anything’ would be impossible.
I am not sure where Yasmin Alibhai-Brown originates from or whether she’s a 1st, 2nd or a 3rd generation immigrant, and care even less. But, if she wrote this in and about her country of origin her universal right to life would be in peril, that’s if she could get it published.
Where were the universal human rights for the victims of the WTC or any other terrorist bombing. Ask for your universal human rights to be observed as a Taliban or al Qa’ida is about t slit your throat. It must seem really easy sitting comfortably in her house in North London. For me it’s better if you do unto others before they do unto you.
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