The Abu Ghraib Scandal: Who’s Shame is it?

harish_hyde

Ignorance is not a bliss but it is a curse. Everybody knows about the record of treatment of journalists under dictatorial regimes in Islamic countries but one must salute the courage of journalists there that they do not stop telling the truth.

However, you might find it enlightening to know that those who claim to bear the torch of morality and free speech are no different than their Islamic counterparts. For example, United States has killed about 29 journalists upto now in Iraq who were trying to bring the truth out to the world. Dozens have been harrassed and roughed up. International Federation of Journalists puts the blame squarely on United States for the cold blooded murder of these journalists

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1200911,00.html

On the home front two journalists, Dan Rather and Geraldo Rivera were harrassed into submission by their employers. Dan Rather lost his job and had to apologize on air. That set rest of the journalists to stay ``embeded`` and tell whatever military tells them to say or they are out.

The Hindu media overwhelmingly tows the government line and changes its tone with one swish of a wand from their government. Until recently Hindu media was the most efficient machinery in the hands of previous government of religious nuts feeding anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistani hatered into masses on 24/7 basis. And just overnight it was singing hymns of praise to their new Paksitani friends when their government gave them a nod and a wink. There is one, I repeat only one, exception though, when tehlka.com exposed the corruption of Generals of Indian Army and caught them on tape selling their country for a prostitute and a bottle of whisky and also when the exposed how politicians and generals made money from the coffins that were meant for the dead of Kargil war heroes. You must also know, how later on hindu religious nuts ruined the lives and businesses of the people of tehlka dot com. Now no one dares speak out the truth.

As compared to the above two examples the journalists is Muslim countries have suffered persecution at its worst. In Paksitan, for example, they were tortured and raped in Lahore Fort and Dalai Camp but they never stopped telling the truth. Except a minority in English media and very few in urdu media(and these journalists are well known to be on government payroll) most journalists answer the call from their conscience despite all adversity.

Is Al-Jazeera Muslim media?

Salaam Alaikum!

HP,

``It is not that Powell did not know from the beginning that the whole WMD thing was made up but he hung on to it. Now, he comes clean for the record, for prosperity. It was pure dishonesty on Powell’s part.``

Hence my earlier statement.

--Ibn

#79 by malik99 “Iraq was an impoverished country under the most brutal sanctions.”

True! the sanctions were brutal but I always wanted to find out why did Saddam in the long 13 years after the first Gulf war, never tried to use whatever money was coming in to help his people? Why did he never attempt to use that time to bring in Iraq into a democratic set up? Why he did not use that time to hold elections in Iraq? Why he never used that time to connect with Shia instead of killing and depriving them of their basic human rights? Why did Saddam not use all that time to elect a parliament to provide representation to his own people?

13 years is a long time. Saddam ruled Iraq with iron hands and allowed his family especially his sons to kill and dishonor poor people w/o any legitimate authority.

Any other ruler, who would have been under such brutal sanctions, at least would have tried to connect with his own and would have tried a little to alleviate their problems. But no! Our faaking beloved dictator was constructing new palaces and was blaming the sanctions for kids dying in the hospitals for lack of medicine.

In all those 13 years of sanctions, expenses on maintaining him, his family and his generals never went down. He would not spend money on his people but loved to import items of luxury for his personal and family’s consumption.

With him gone, at least Iraqi would have some hope. The US will leave Iraq sooner than later as the international pressure and the fighters in Iraq would force the US to leave.

Were Iraqi ever in a position to overthrow Saddam, while he was putting his statues all over Iraq? He thought he could fight off the sanctions, the US, the UK and the whole world w/o any help from his own people. In the end, he crawled from a sh!t hole and Iraqi people are becoming some stats to gloat over by our friends here.

May be Abu Ghraib was the lowest point of Iraq’s last 30 years of wretched history. May be, now, Iraqi could see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Saminasha #51

[When was the last time you saw Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, the journalists at Al Jazeera on mainstream tv?]

I`m not saying that the media in the US is free. It is the same everywhere, manipulated by a few rich and powerful. But then, you must thank the American system that you ever got to know or hear Chomsky, Vidal, or Sontag, even if it was not on mainstream TV. Just think what would have happened if it were an Islamic country. Simple. They would have been silenced long ago. Look at Shaheen Sehbai, who was forced into exile just because his views differed from the great General`s. Or Najam Sethi who a few years ago was beaten up and incarcerated by Nawaz Sharif. All this just because these gentlemen dared to air the alternative POV. Tell me how many media men/intellectuals in the US have ever been mistreated because they dissented? Chomsky is the harshest critic of America`s policies

Saminasha #70

{We should be thrilled that the full spectrum of viewpoints on the war is only represented in independent media, while the most mediocre minds-like Ben Stein`s third grader harangue (``US=GOOD! IRAQ=EVIL!``) get 24/7 access to television media}

No, you should instead be thrilled because you still get to know the truth. Is it mainstream only if it is on TV?

{oh yes, that sounds like right wing Indian democracy}

And your views sound so much like an Islamic apologist`s.

{The media is under no obligation to provide the full spectrum of opinion in America, but GOSH DARNIT isnt America`s diversity just grand}

And if it weren`t for this diversity, the truth would never have come out, as happens all the time in most Islamic states/dictatorships. You think something like the AQ Khan scandal could have ever been silenced so easily in the US as it happened in Pakistan? Even the playboy President Bill Clinton`s escapades with Monica Lewinsky were unforgivingly put under the scanner.

#74 by knowledge123 on May 25, 2004 2:12pm PT

”Recently, Colin Powell has recanted on his ``weapons mobile laboratory`` that he used as ``substantial`` evidence that Saddam had not only WMD, but also mobile WMD. I have yet to see ``mainstream`` media (excluding Meet the Press) ponder on it--much less mention it”

I don’t know how you want me to take this but by the time Powell came clean, the WMD and the non-existence of it, had already lost steam. It clearly was not newsworthy any more. Now the question is why Powell did not come clean when people still believed that Iraq had WMD? If he had said that right after the war that it was all fake and their were no labs the news would have spread over the world like a wildfire.

It is not that Powell did not know from the beginning that the whole WMD thing was made up but he hung on to it. Now, he comes clean for the record, for prosperity. It was pure dishonesty on Powell’s part.

The US media is in for money and to pursue its own goals and dominance. It is a commercial enterprise. Why should anybody be naïve enough to believe that it is there to provide just news. The new media makes and breaks the news based on the monetary value the news have.

Did you know that Fox news in the US is watched by more(almost) American than all news channel’s put together? Fox saw a niche. A conservative and redneck America that was being ignored by the CNN and ABC and CBS types. Fox is running wild with it. It is making more money than any other news network. Why should it give up its core market because some liberals are not happy with it? As the conservative America starts moving away from Bush, you will see changes in Fox too.

Dear Author
``The great thing about a democratic system is that citizens have the right to vote for a change when their government falls short of expectations.``

As an American you have a President who claims to have divine sanction to send the US Army to war. If you have a problem with this, you can vote him out of power.

As a Pakistani, you have a whole Army which claims to have divine sanction to do anything it pleases.. Do you have a problem with this and do you want them out of power?

Stuka # 75 - You wrote ``There was minimal crime and no law and order problem in Nazi Germany. I assume that is your ideal society??? ``

No two situations in history are always EXACTLY the same. Germany was a threat to other countries and had occupied most of europe. Iraq was an impoverished country under the most brutal sanctions.

If you are really bent on deriving a lesson from history, then consider the lesson of ``appeasement``. Just like europe seems to have learned that Nazis should never have been appeased when they occupied Checkoslovakia, I can argue that american regime should not be appeased either now that they have invaded and raped Iraq.

URS:

Would you care to share your observations from ``Bowling for Columbine``? It would be real nice if you can take out a few minutes on a daily basis to write a detailed overview of the movie and submit it to Chowk. How`s that? Doable or Impossible?

Malik/Urstruly:

There was minimal crime and no law and order problem in Nazi Germany. I assume that is your ideal society???

Salaam Alaikum!

HP,

Recently, Colin Powell has recanted on his ``weapons mobile laboratory`` that he used as ``substantial`` evidence that Saddam had not only WMD, but also mobile WMD. I have yet to see ``mainstream`` media (excluding Meet the Press) ponder on it--much less mention it.

--Ibn

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Malik

A couple of days ago I saw Michael Moore`s `Bowling for Columbine` at the HBO. The HBO has been showing it for over a year now but I did not bother to see it before thinking that it will only highlite the tragedy at Columbine High and I did not want to see the gory details of the masacar. But watching this documentary proved to be a shocking surprise. It gives you a deep insight into the American culture and society and why it is so violence prone. It sytematically abolishes all the myths that we have about America as a gentle law abiding society and takes us deep into the mind of an American and how he is so violent demestically as well as internationally. The Oscar was well deserved and so was the first prize at Caans. I can hardly wait to see his `Fehrenheit 9-11`. I hope it is not banned is USA.

And would you like to explain which media monopolies exist in the US?

Harish,

So your argument is that:

1. We should be thrilled that the full spectrum of viewpoints on the war is only represented in independent media, while the most mediocre minds-like Ben Stein`s third grader harangue (``US=GOOD! IRAQ=EVIL!``) get 24/7 access to television media.

2. People like YOU decide which thinkers from this huge spectrum are worthy of this media time-oh yes, that sounds like right wing Indian democracy...

3. The media is under no obligation to provide the full spectrum of opinion in America, but GOSH DARNIT isnt America`s diversity just grand?!


Makes perfect sense...

Malik # 67

Even more so, we must scrutinize the role of Red Cross and other Human Rights organizations in the Abu Ghraib tragedy as well. We have to question them why they kept sweeping the truth under the rug for one whole year. We must question why and how they collaborated with homicidal maniacs, war criminals, and crusaders and hid the truth. These organizations have been at the forefront `preparing` a case against Iraq by brainwashing people in the Christiandom. We must question them why they have lowered themselves from the status of humanity to this level. We must question their credibility and claims.

The Western media, well that is the device of satan himself, that is hopeless - less said the better.

Stuka # 63 - Urstruly has posted a FACT. The FACT being: there were on average 14 murders per month in Baghdad. Now there are 357. Bronx may indeed be worse than Rawanda, but pre-invasion Baghdad was not !

As for your doubts about me being an American, I don`t need to convince you of that. But let me introduce you to a noble concept of citizenship. You have to stay vigilant and responsible and you have to keep a sharp eye on your government`s actions. This is more so when one is a citizen of a country which has the power to destroy the world. You have to make sure that when your government talks about ``freedom`` it is in fact not enslaving. You have to make sure that your country is not hijacked by the thugs and murderers who preach us the rights of unborn child and fetus, yet kill pregnant women and children with impunity.