Well, after the reports of american abuse of iraqi prisioners, just two days later a new report emerges, this time concerning british troops.
The photos, handed to the british press by UK soldiers who believed there were excesses being comited by fellow soldiers, are angering the arab community like nothing ever before. The abuse of sexual nature, is something the muslim community takes dead serious. Having pictures splashed on every front page of every newspaper from here to Timbuctu, of hooded naked iraqis, isnīt doing much good to the coalition. But if that was bad, seing a man being pissed on by a british troop has nailed the "hearts and minds" coffin permanently.
Not only they were beaten, thrown out of a moving truck, and suffered other forms of torture, they were urinated on! Itīs total human rights chaos and anarchy.
The british government is now casting doubts on the autenticity of the pictures, in an effort to downplay the tremendous ammount of anger felt throughout the world, and the muslim community in particular.
The reason why situations of abuse like these happen, is explained by the rift existing between both cultures.But the real damning issue is that often it is not just the ground level troops that adopt such an arrogant superior attitude towards their prisioners. Often enough the superior officers share the same hatread and disconsideration for the iraqis, that their subordinates do. And thus condone and allow such abuses to continue with blatant impunity.
If these soldiers are to be punished, and rightly so, so should their superiors for allowing such widespread disregard for human life and human dignity.
Starting from the White House and the Pentagon, the language used by high ranking officials often reeks of racism and disregard for the iraqi people, and it is only natural that such a feeling would spread and disseminate down the chain of command, all the way down to the "grunts" in the field.
They are all to blame. Not only those whose hands are tarnished by such acts of savagery, but also those who condoned and silently aproved of such acts through their flammatory words and deeds. They all must face justice.
The White House is the ultimate culprit, in my understanding, due to their inflammatory speeches. Calling the iraqis of "thugs", "bandits", "wrongdoers" and "terrorists" has passed along a message to the troops on the field that such abusive behaviour was excusable and condoned.
"If the president does it, why shouldnīt we, right?"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3677311.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3676389.stm