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For generations to come...

By Nayala Rehmat

This article comments on the stories, pictures and videos of torture that have been emerging from Iraq.

When the first pictures and stories of torture, rape, murder and abuse came out of Iraq the British and American people were shocked by the sheer sadist connotations. The soldiers grinning straight in to the camera lenses, proud of the horrendous indignities that they’d inflicted on their captives.

Many of those in Britain and America, who had not been critical of the war along with those who had always been opposed to it, have been utterly disgusted by these actions and images. However sadly some have rationalised these actions by arguing that it ‘isn’t as bad as Saddam’s regime’ or even that ‘this is part and parcel of war’ and thus it is not that awful it was ‘just a few bad apples’ nothing to worry about! However that is little consolation for those who suffered at the hands of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib, and those still under the ‘protection’ of the coalition forces in Iraq.

The British pictures of torture in The Daily Mirror may have been deemed as fake; however the stories behind the pictures of abuse have been supported and corroborated by the Amnesty International Report. This is sidelined by the government and by the commentators as they try and disprove the allegations of abuse by the British Army.   

As all ‘proper’ democracies and upholders of human rights should do in this kind of situation, the Americans and British will hold inquiries and investigations as to who is at fault. These inquiries may even be followed up with the suspension of a few soldiers and a few resignations from the middling ranks. Then as usual to what has happened in this war, (Hutton Inquiry) it will be shoved under the carpet, all done and dusted.

However I sincerely doubt a few inquires and investigations and suspensions can ever repair the grave damage done by these human rights abuses. Even Bush’s ‘sorry’ speech will not abate the intense feelings of anger. Too little too late.

Donald Rumsfeld visit to Iraq and his emboldened statement’s to his forces clearly communicates a stronger message, one of defiance. He stood in Abu Ghraib prison and gave a speech to his soldiers about the good work they were doing and how he was proud of them. The soldiers were jubilant as you find on such occasions, they all had their pocket sized cameras ready to snap pictures as memento’s of the day: as I watched Rumsfeld posing with his soldiers I wondered what else those cameras had been used for by the Abu Ghraib soldiers.

I feel mildly let down by the coverage in our newspapers and news reports, only in passing has the Arab worlds feelings and reactions been mentioned. None of the news channels or newspaper reports have stretched their writings and reports to look at the depth and gravity of the irreparable damage these pictures have done and will continue to do for years to come in the Arab world. Not just in the Arab world but Muslims world wide, have been sickeningly shocked in to realisation; their worst fears have come true, the American’s have come and invaded their lands to rape, torture and murder their men. Their honour, their respect and their manhood has been violated.

This feeling will not just be linked to a few Iraqi men, but it will be as if the whole Iraqi nation has been tortured and raped by the so called ‘liberators’ and ‘civilisers’. In fact these feelings will resonate throughout the wider ‘Islamic world’. It will be felt as if a whole Muslim peoples have been subjugated to rape murder and torture. The so called civilisers have turned out to be the cruel and vicious barbarians. The upholders of democracy, human rights and freedoms are actually the brutal subjugators. The very men who came as liberators have become the oppressors. How ironic how cruel.

Now into the third week since the allegations of abuse broke, new stories of abuse are emerging.1,800 new photo’s and videos are yet to be released by the American government. More torture more rape, this time of Iraqi women being raped by the American soldiers in Abu Ghraib. Sadly it appears as if the pictures we have seen are just the beginning, there are more to come. Yet we may never be allowed to see the full horrors committed in Abu Ghraib due to the censorship being imposed by the American government.

No nation no peoples, no matter how politically and militarily weak could suffer this insult in silence. The commentators have been suggesting that the Iraqi people are not shocked by such pictures they have seen this all before. I do not doubt after years of abuse and torture the Iraqi people may have become desensitised, but many people in the Arab and Muslim worlds will not accept these pictures as if it was common practice or acceptable behaviour. The commentators are misplacing the silence of the Arab world as acceptance; I fear this would be a mistake. I hate to say this but these pictures and videos of torture rape and murder have probably recruited many more young men to the likes of Al’Qaida. More men will be ready to give up their lives for the honour of their nations and peoples, more death and more destruction---more terror. This has already come to be perceived as one more injustice, one more wrongdoing that the Muslim peoples have been made to suffer.

Any integrity that the British and Americans had left in the eyes of Muslims and the Arab world has been destroyed by the actions of their own military forces. Many will be critical of my lumping together the actions of the American and British soldiers. But justifiable or not in the psyche of many Muslims both America and Britain are equally tainted with the actions of the soldiers in Abu Gharib; they both took on the war together ‘shoulder to shoulder’. Justly or not many Muslims will attribute the photos of abuse to not a few soldiers but to both of the respective governments. Even more frightening, their will also be those who blame the whole of the American and British peoples, and thus easily rationalize acts of terror against them.

This appears to me as the bleakest period in recent history of the Muslim/western relations. The damage this has done will sadly continue to be felt by generations to come. 

The author is Head of the Women’s Affairs Team at IACN and is a student of History and International Relations at the Nottingham Trent University.  Click here to comment on this article.