Post by Islamic Revival on Jan 27, 2005 10:52:19 GMT -5
Guantanamo bay marked the beginning of the end of America’s Moral Authority
www.1924.org/opinion/index.php?id=1741_0_34_0_M
Thursday January 10th 2002 is a date that will live on in infamy, marked by America’s broadcast of the first images of Muslim prisoners arriving at camp X-ray. Graphic pictures of Muslim men in orange jump-suits, kneeling, hooded, blindfolded, masked and shackled horrified a world audience still reeling from the US massacres in Afghanistan.
Such a callous display of humiliation and maltreatment was carefully staged to deliver a message of revenge for 9/11 to the US public, and a message of fear to the Muslim world. But it triggered a sharp reaction of outrage and disgust from the rest of the world, and suddenly there was a nervous anticipation of what the US would do next to these prisoners, as the world became uncertain if there were any moral or indeed legal boundaries that would restrain the hand of the superpower.
This doubt soon lifted when it became clear that the US had no problem in openly flouting any moral standard or indeed any international law. Regular streams of reports began emerging of the horrors being experienced by the Muslim prisoners.
Accounts appeared in the world media of how detainees were shackled for up to 15 hours a day. Details and images of cells with wire cages and concrete floors open to the elements, giving no privacy and no protection from rats, snakes and scorpions were reported in newspapers and TV news worldwide.
There were also reports of punishment beatings and psychological torture using mind-games in attempts to make them confess to acts they had never committed.
Vice girls were brought in to torment the most pious prisoners who had never seen uncovered non-mahram women before. There was even a report where an American girl had smeared menstrual blood across a Muslim man’s face in an act of humiliation.
All this with no crime that any of the prisoners were charged with and no legal process engaged means that these prisoners were being kept in a black hole and left to rot – contravening all western moral values, human rights and international regulations.
The bad taste of witnessing such inhumanity began to diffuse throughout the world, the tone of human rights reports changed, the tone in newspaper commentary changed, the tone in discussion with ordinary people changed, and all sympathy that was being milked by the Americans for 9/11 vaporised as people throughout the world began to question – What is the true face of the American government?
Other US crimes began to follow and were now being met with increasingly bitter opinion. The false claim of WMD’s in Iraq, the unstinting support of the Israeli mass murderer Sharon, the unprovoked invasion of Iraq -another already devastated country, and the threatening posture showed to other Muslim states such as Syria and Iran. All this was revealing more of the dark side of the self proclaimed ‘beacon of democracy and freedom’.
The demolition of Iraq and ruthless crushing of entire towns to dislodge a few hundred fighters – along with the unforgivable crimes of Abu Ghraib has only gone further to consolidate opinion that the US is not the protector of human rights and liberator from oppression. In fact if anything opinion in many areas is forming that the US is the epitome of hypocrisy and cares little for western moral or legal value systems such as human rights, the Geneva convention and the like.
In the end, these arrogant acts of evil will come back to haunt America, already they are paying the price for their genocide in Iraq, as the Iraqi civilians armed with light weapons are bringing the military superpower to its knees. And as the US begins to stir opinion against Iran, it is meeting much harder resistance from world opinion.
So the last 4 UK Muslim prisoners are released and returned to Britain, and we rejoice for them and their families, for they have been through an unimaginable ordeal; however we cannot forget that there are many they leave behind in Guantanamo bay, and there are millions who are still US prisoners in their own lands in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Conclusion
Muslims in Britain need to be mindful of the developing international situation, as their role in the future will become more and more critical as America and the West gear up their confrontation with the Muslim world.
We must not be drawn into the trap of exclusively lobbying the British government, an equally evil partner in the war on terror, for the release of only a few prisoners of the US, but we must work for the unconditional release of all Muslim captives, whether from physical captivity –or from military occupation.
America, like empires before her, has overstepped her mark since 9/11. She believed she was invincible so her arrogance blinded her to lead to the destruction of her own moral authority in the eyes of the world and reinforced the will of the Muslim world to free themselves from her chains.
This should be no surprise for Muslims, as we know that the planning of America cannot surpass the planning of Allah (swt), and we remember that indeed Allah (swt) helped his Messenger (saw) when the Quraish planned to kill him and rejected his call, but their evil plans were thwarted, and Allah (swt) helped those who worked for his cause.
ÅöáÇøó ÊóäÕõÑõæåõ ÝóÞóÏú äóÕóÑóåõ Çááøåõ ÅöÐú ÃóÎúÑóÌóåõ ÇáøóÐöíäó ßóÝóÑõæÇú ËóÇäöíó ÇËúäóíúäö ÅöÐú åõãóÇ Ýöí ÇáúÛóÇÑö ÅöÐú íóÞõæáõ áöÕóÇÍöÈöåö áÇó ÊóÍúÒóäú Åöäøó Çááøåó ãóÚóäóÇ ÝóÃóäÒóáó Çááøåõ ÓóßöíäóÊóåõ Úóáóíúåö æóÃóíøóÏóåõ ÈöÌõäõæÏò áøóãú ÊóÑóæúåóÇ æóÌóÚóáó ßóáöãóÉó ÇáøóÐöíäó ßóÝóÑõæÇú ÇáÓøõÝúáóì æóßóáöãóÉõ Çááøåö åöíó ÇáúÚõáúíóÇ æóÇááøåõ ÚóÒöíÒñ Íóßöíãñ
If you help him (Muhammad PBUH) not it does not matter, for Allâh did indeed help him when the disbelievers drove him out, the second of two, when they (Muhammad PBUH and Abu Bakr) were in the cave, and he (PBUH) said to his companion (Abu Bakr): "Be not sad or afraid, surely Allâh is with us." Then Allâh sent down His Sakînah upon him, and strengthened him with forces (angels) which you saw not, and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowermost, while it was the Word of Allâh that became the uppermost, and Allâh is All-Mighty, All-Wise. [TMQ 9:40]
Asif Dawood
www.1924.org/opinion/index.php?id=1741_0_34_0_M
Thursday January 10th 2002 is a date that will live on in infamy, marked by America’s broadcast of the first images of Muslim prisoners arriving at camp X-ray. Graphic pictures of Muslim men in orange jump-suits, kneeling, hooded, blindfolded, masked and shackled horrified a world audience still reeling from the US massacres in Afghanistan.
Such a callous display of humiliation and maltreatment was carefully staged to deliver a message of revenge for 9/11 to the US public, and a message of fear to the Muslim world. But it triggered a sharp reaction of outrage and disgust from the rest of the world, and suddenly there was a nervous anticipation of what the US would do next to these prisoners, as the world became uncertain if there were any moral or indeed legal boundaries that would restrain the hand of the superpower.
This doubt soon lifted when it became clear that the US had no problem in openly flouting any moral standard or indeed any international law. Regular streams of reports began emerging of the horrors being experienced by the Muslim prisoners.
Accounts appeared in the world media of how detainees were shackled for up to 15 hours a day. Details and images of cells with wire cages and concrete floors open to the elements, giving no privacy and no protection from rats, snakes and scorpions were reported in newspapers and TV news worldwide.
There were also reports of punishment beatings and psychological torture using mind-games in attempts to make them confess to acts they had never committed.
Vice girls were brought in to torment the most pious prisoners who had never seen uncovered non-mahram women before. There was even a report where an American girl had smeared menstrual blood across a Muslim man’s face in an act of humiliation.
All this with no crime that any of the prisoners were charged with and no legal process engaged means that these prisoners were being kept in a black hole and left to rot – contravening all western moral values, human rights and international regulations.
The bad taste of witnessing such inhumanity began to diffuse throughout the world, the tone of human rights reports changed, the tone in newspaper commentary changed, the tone in discussion with ordinary people changed, and all sympathy that was being milked by the Americans for 9/11 vaporised as people throughout the world began to question – What is the true face of the American government?
Other US crimes began to follow and were now being met with increasingly bitter opinion. The false claim of WMD’s in Iraq, the unstinting support of the Israeli mass murderer Sharon, the unprovoked invasion of Iraq -another already devastated country, and the threatening posture showed to other Muslim states such as Syria and Iran. All this was revealing more of the dark side of the self proclaimed ‘beacon of democracy and freedom’.
The demolition of Iraq and ruthless crushing of entire towns to dislodge a few hundred fighters – along with the unforgivable crimes of Abu Ghraib has only gone further to consolidate opinion that the US is not the protector of human rights and liberator from oppression. In fact if anything opinion in many areas is forming that the US is the epitome of hypocrisy and cares little for western moral or legal value systems such as human rights, the Geneva convention and the like.
In the end, these arrogant acts of evil will come back to haunt America, already they are paying the price for their genocide in Iraq, as the Iraqi civilians armed with light weapons are bringing the military superpower to its knees. And as the US begins to stir opinion against Iran, it is meeting much harder resistance from world opinion.
So the last 4 UK Muslim prisoners are released and returned to Britain, and we rejoice for them and their families, for they have been through an unimaginable ordeal; however we cannot forget that there are many they leave behind in Guantanamo bay, and there are millions who are still US prisoners in their own lands in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Conclusion
Muslims in Britain need to be mindful of the developing international situation, as their role in the future will become more and more critical as America and the West gear up their confrontation with the Muslim world.
We must not be drawn into the trap of exclusively lobbying the British government, an equally evil partner in the war on terror, for the release of only a few prisoners of the US, but we must work for the unconditional release of all Muslim captives, whether from physical captivity –or from military occupation.
America, like empires before her, has overstepped her mark since 9/11. She believed she was invincible so her arrogance blinded her to lead to the destruction of her own moral authority in the eyes of the world and reinforced the will of the Muslim world to free themselves from her chains.
This should be no surprise for Muslims, as we know that the planning of America cannot surpass the planning of Allah (swt), and we remember that indeed Allah (swt) helped his Messenger (saw) when the Quraish planned to kill him and rejected his call, but their evil plans were thwarted, and Allah (swt) helped those who worked for his cause.
ÅöáÇøó ÊóäÕõÑõæåõ ÝóÞóÏú äóÕóÑóåõ Çááøåõ ÅöÐú ÃóÎúÑóÌóåõ ÇáøóÐöíäó ßóÝóÑõæÇú ËóÇäöíó ÇËúäóíúäö ÅöÐú åõãóÇ Ýöí ÇáúÛóÇÑö ÅöÐú íóÞõæáõ áöÕóÇÍöÈöåö áÇó ÊóÍúÒóäú Åöäøó Çááøåó ãóÚóäóÇ ÝóÃóäÒóáó Çááøåõ ÓóßöíäóÊóåõ Úóáóíúåö æóÃóíøóÏóåõ ÈöÌõäõæÏò áøóãú ÊóÑóæúåóÇ æóÌóÚóáó ßóáöãóÉó ÇáøóÐöíäó ßóÝóÑõæÇú ÇáÓøõÝúáóì æóßóáöãóÉõ Çááøåö åöíó ÇáúÚõáúíóÇ æóÇááøåõ ÚóÒöíÒñ Íóßöíãñ
If you help him (Muhammad PBUH) not it does not matter, for Allâh did indeed help him when the disbelievers drove him out, the second of two, when they (Muhammad PBUH and Abu Bakr) were in the cave, and he (PBUH) said to his companion (Abu Bakr): "Be not sad or afraid, surely Allâh is with us." Then Allâh sent down His Sakînah upon him, and strengthened him with forces (angels) which you saw not, and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowermost, while it was the Word of Allâh that became the uppermost, and Allâh is All-Mighty, All-Wise. [TMQ 9:40]
Asif Dawood