Cybrpnk's Rantings

According to many supporters of the war in Iraq, the main justification is neither an imminent threat to America, nor the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Rather they propose a radical theory that we can impose American Democracy on Iraq by force, and therefore remake the entire middle east. A tempting theory, but doesn't it require concerted effort on our part to take the highest moral road possible in all of our dealings in Iraq? Even putting aside such excesses as those in Abu Ghraib prison, clearly there is something amiss in our approach in Iraq. Under international law we may, as an occupying power, detain people we perceive as a threat to the security of our forces. Fair enough, the concept of keeping prisoners of war is an easy one to grasp. But we have gone badly wrong on this concept on numerous fronts.

First off, we are hiding prisoners. Acting on orders from Donald Rumsfeld there has been at least one person held in US custody 'off the books.' All those horror stories of people in totalitarian states trying in vain to find out whether a relative is alive or dead, in custody or in hiding, and being stone-walled by the government? We are doing the same thing in Iraq.

Next, we are offering less than complete cooperation with the International Red Cross. This is in direct contravention of the International Law that allows us the right to hold these security detainees. We may hold them, yes, but we must grant outside observers access to them to confirm that they are being properly treated. Instead we are playing a sort of shell game reminiscent of the prison systems of repressive thugs the world over.

Then there is the question of the fate of these prisoners once we have turned sovereignty over to the Iraqis. International law requires us to turn all these prisoners over to the newly minted government, something which, according to NPR reports this morning, we are loathe to do. In case anyone was under the impression that this so-called handover of sovereignty was truly an end to the occupation, this proposed flaunting of international law seems to put the lie to that belief. How is Iraq sovereign if we are reserving the right to detain thousands of their citizens under US military control within the country?

Finally the prosecution of these prisoners in Iraqi courts must be addressed. People who have been taking up arms in defense of their country are being put on criminal trial for assault and murder for attacks on US soldiers. Is that any way to treat prisoners of war? How would the US react if Americans were taken alive by the rebels, put on trial, and executed under Islamic law? We would go ballistic. And that puts the lie to the so-called justice meted out in Iraqi courts today.

If anyone in Washington thinks that these abusive behaviors do anything but undermine our claims of being in Iraq as purveyors of freedom and justice, they are as delusional as their harshest critics suggest.