[Reader-list] Politics of American Un-civilization

[Avinash Jha]

Friends,

I am appending below my translation of a small piece that appeared in the Hindi journal 'LokVidya Samvad'. The piece argues that the worldwide publicity of torture taking place in Abu Gharaib and elsewhere is part of a plan. I take the claim seriously and would like to inquire into how exactly these pictures were leaked to the media. I have read that Seymoor Hersh and CBS Television were the first to publish these. What is their background? Are there any heroic stories as to how this leak was made possible? Are there any US enquiries as to the security lapses which made this leak possible? It does seem to me that appearance one after another of these videos and pictures from a high security prison is suspicious. 

avinash

 

From: LOKVIDYA SAMVAD, No. 14, July 2004 (p.20)

 

Politics of American Un-civilization

 

What happened in Abu Gharaib prison and the worldwide publicity it gained, both should be regarded as parts of US strategy. It is not a strategy of war but the strategy of establishing an uncivilized regime in the world. This should also be seen in the context of forthcoming elections in the US to which Bush Administration is responding in part by this particular strategy.  

 

The story goes that the Officers of the US Army may have been aware of the torture of Iraqi prisoners but they were not a part of it, and that the pictures and videos of the torture were heroically leaked to the media leading to their worldwide dissemination. We think this is just lies. Ever since the war has been on in Iraq, the US has successfully censored the news and pictures coming out of there. There were hardly any pictures of the protracted battles that took place while the pictures of the demolition of Saddam Hussain's statue were repeated over and over again on the TV screens. Only victories of US army found place in the media coverage. Only on rare occasions did one fine the stories of Iraqi Army's resilience and of defeats suffered by US forces. Is the heroism of the media limited only to showing the victimhood of Iraqis? The truth lies somewhere else. The whole thing is about the priorities and policies of the US administration.

 

The way US went ahead to start a war in Iraq solely on the basis of its military strength in opposition to global resistance, spurning the sentiments of people everywhere, and by completely disregarding the United Nations, brings to light the current US policy and strategy. The policy clearly is to rule the world and the strategy is terror. US cannot hope to win the support of people and countries to its policies on the basis of their consent. It can gain their allegiance only by striking fear into them. By publicizing the pictures from Abu Gharaib depicting behavior that crosses all limits, the US is telling everyone that the people opposing US will meet with the same consequences. The worldwide publicity of these pictures can only be part of a well-thought out strategy.

 

This year's election also requires Bush administration to show itself as that demon which has in it to rule the world with iron hand. In the age of globalisation, control on international trade can be exercised only in this manner and only thus the dream of an American Century can be fulfilled. The republican party cannot trounce the democratic party by paying lip service to democratic values or by talking about international cooperation. Only way Bush can win is by arousing the egotistic and animal instincts of the American people. 

 

 

__________________________________________________
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20041013/95d71774/attachment.html