In an article in the Daily Telegraph Major General Antonio Taguba has confirmed that there are photographs showing that rape of prisoners was among the torture tactics used at Abu Ghuraib. The allegations of rape appeared in Taguba’s 2004 report on the abuses at Abu Ghuraib. The inhumanity of the human rights abuses there were confirmed by government officials, including Donald Rumsfeld. Yet to this day there are Americans who are in denial (see, e.g., “Diverting the Spotlight to Include Dick Cheney,” a letter published in the Washington Post). This refusal to face up to the facts demonstrates the reasons why merely describing the photographs is insufficient; it is necessary to release the photographs.
The “America’s-leaders-can-do-no-wrong attitude” has its counterpart among the Muslims. There are Muslims to this day who believe that 9-11 was a false flag operation. Instead of denying the obvious fact that SOME Muslims were involved in the barbaric attack on the World Trade Center, Muslims must own up to the fact that there are some among us who will conveniently ignore, when they find it convenient to do so, the prohibitions in Islamic law against attacking civilians. Similarly, we Americans must own up to the fact that there are some leaders who would gladly sacrifice the principle of the rule of law when it is inconvenient for them, even to the point of allowing (encouraging?) the rape of captives completely in their power.
Muslims have had to accept the fact that correcting the gross misperceptions of Islam in the West requires us to distance ourselves from those who engage in violence against innocents. Simlilarly, Americans must realize that combating anger at and mistrust of the United States will require that we distance ourselves from those responsible for the rapes and other prisoner abuses at Abu Ghuraib. For the Obama administration that means they must release photographic evidence. As long as they fail to do so, there will be those who shall ignore or deny the reports of patriots like Major-General Taguba.
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
Minaret of Freedom Institute
www.minaret.org
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