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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Anger in Arab capitals |
| 2004-05-01 |
| No, it’s not about the bodies hanging from bridges. You see, there was no anger when that happened. A government-leaning newspaper in Egypt, Akhbar el-Yom, showed the photographs of U.S. soldiers posing by naked, hooded inmates, under the banner "The Scandal". Al-Wafd, an opposition paper, displayed similar photos beneath the words "The Shame," reported The Associated Press. In Cairo, a spokesman for the Arab League said it had complained of abuses by U.S.-led forces after a mission to Iraq in December. The League feared more cases of ill-treatment were going unnoticed, he said. "It is beyond the words of despicable acts and disgust that we feel at watching such photographs," Hossam Zaki told Reuters. "But we don’t feel anything when infidels hang from bridges. "The irony of it is that Saddam Hussein never really held a banner of spreading freedom...He was an autocratic ruler, a dictator, a repressive ruler, whatever you want to call him. It was expected to witness such atrocities under his rule," he said, according to the Reuters report. "But to have the American soldiers supposedly bringing freedom and democracy and the American way of life to this part of the world, spreading this kind of shameful misconduct, that is an irony that to my taste is very sickening," he said, according to Reuters. "But poking corpses with sticks brings me delight. Especially infidel corpses." Zaki said the Arab League mission had heard similar accounts of abuse in Iraqi prisons, but did not have supporting evidence. But he said the mission had raised its concerns with the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S. embassy on its return to Cairo. "(It) is most likely that there are other cases that have not been photographed," he told Reuters. "Shame on America. How can they convince us now that it is the bastion of democracy, freedoms and human rights? Why do we blame our dictators then?" asked Mustafa Saad, who was reading morning papers in a downtown Cairo cafe, the A.P. reported. "Bridges....corpses...bring a smile to my face." ... Mohammed Hassan Taha, an editor at Nile Sports News Television, said Arabs should not allow the matter to pass quietly, according to the AP dispatch. "This is not humiliation of Iraqis, it is humiliation of all Arabs," said Taha, while buying a newspaper with the photos on its cover. "But killing captives is OK by me. A dead body can’t feel humiliation." Dara Nor al-Din, a former judge and member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, said the torture of prisoners and detainees or showing them naked contradicts principles of human rights. No shit sherlock. But one thing, these guys weren’t tortured. They were made fun of. "We used to criticize Saddam’s regime regarding the beating of detained people, so why should we accept to repeat the same tragedy. This is not acceptable," Nor al-Din told AP. Once again, no beatings. But plenty of humiliation. At Baghdad’s Mustansiriyah University, student Ahmad Taher, 24, asked, "Is this the way the Americans treat prisoners?" "Americans claim that they respect freedom and democracy, but only in their country," Taher, 24, added. "Bridges and mutilated corpses go together like bread and butter in my country." Hussein al-Saeedi, spokesman for Kuwait’s al-Salaf radical Islamic group, said the images "make every sensible person doubt all the principles Western democracies are offering" and show the need for an end to the U.S. occupation. "That’s why need more bridges!!!" "America justified its invasion of Iraq by saying the country was under a dictatorship. Unfortunately, Americans are now torturing the Iraqi people in the same place Saddam tortured them," he said. "But we’re better than them ’cause we do it on bridges" In Syria, Damascus merchant Sahban Alawi, 45, asked "what’s the difference between them and Saddam Hussein? They are doing to Iraq more than what he did." "Oh, and, I hate the Jews" Iraqis saw the images of abuse via television. Iraq’s major newspapers, including those at odds with the U.S.-led occupation, did not publish the photographs, which have been splashed across the pages of Saturday’s European publications. "I can’t describe what I felt when I saw those scenes; they revolted me and proved the barbarity of the occupation forces," said Mohammad Salman, a traffic policeman, Reuters reported. "What’s the difference between them and Saddam? They are finishing what he started," he said. "But we have lovely bridges in Iraq! Would like to come and see?" |
| Posted by:Rafael |
| #6 I wonder how much 'anger' was displayed when the savage human bombs blow themselves to Hell taking scores of innocent victim's lives in Iraq, Israel, and around the globe. Where is the public outcry? |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-05-01 10:25:15 PM |
| #5 Anger in Arab capitals Ask us if we give a rat's ass. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-05-01 8:10:07 PM |
| #4 ima wantin editorial privleges |
| Posted by: HalfEmpty 2004-05-01 7:53:02 PM |
| #3 Fred, I want Zipster banned. (I'm just tired of him trying to yank everyone's chain to no useful end. "My Arab brothers"....sheesh.) |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-01 7:47:38 PM |
| #2 My Arab brothers, we have remained silent for far too long. Not one voice was raised when Saddam slaughtered and tortured countless thousands upon thousands. No one has yet to identify Iran's disappearing political prisoners or their fate. Nobody can provide reliable numbers concerning the number of fighting age men among Iraqi casualties. Here we finally have our chance. A few of our brave freedom fighters have been taunted mercilessly. Now is our chance to demand blood for all of the murder and rape that has occured in the Middle East at the hands of other Arabs ... Wait, Abdul! This is supposed to be about the Americans. The Americans? You mean the ones who got rid of Saddam? Oh, yes. Can't we just blame it on the Jews somehow? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-01 7:35:55 PM |
| #1 A truthful headline would read something like 'Arabs once again exhibit irrational duplicity'. Excepting the alleged rape, I see nothing that would justify more than a mild reprimand or punishment. Yet the media is whipping up a storm. This story deserves 2 column inches on page 17. If there is any story here it is, why is the media whipping up a storm and why are the Arabs so completely irrational. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-05-01 7:18:47 PM |