Iyke

 US soldiers abusing an Iraqi. Pix – www.aljazeera.com

In many ways, the United States’ misadventure in Iraq and the conduct of some of its troops, continue to question the claim of many Americans to superior moral conduct.  Perception of the US, under President George Bush’s watch, as a rogue state is increasing, and the duplicitous manner the administration is handling reported cases of gross human rights abuses by American soldiers in Iraq has not helped matters. An article in last week’s edition of The Economist magazine indicated that many American soldiers who committed grievous crimes, including premeditated murder and rape, against innocent Iraqi civilians, are never given tough sentences. American Civil-liberties groups such as Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch even allege that only an insignificant fraction of such crimes has been adequately investigated. 

The US which is not only the aggressor but also illegally occupies Iraq promulgated a law which gives its soldiers immunity from prosecution. Even where global outcry, like in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, forces it into action, Americans always insist on carrying out the investigation on their own with little or no input from the Iraqi authorities. This level of arrogance is at the root of the inflamed passion in the Middle East. For a country that claims to lay much stock on fundamental human rights, this double standards galls. What moral right does the Bush administration have to incarcerate suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda militants at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years while shielding American soldiers who have committed similar, or even more grievous, crimes against humanity from prosecution?