Would the shady liberator please stand up?
The twisted irony and hypocrisy behind the photos that America does not want us to see.

Dokhtar Shirazi
February 16, 2006
iranian.com

“To extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew the values that sustain our liberty, and to spread the peace that freedom brings” were the exact words utilized by President Bush in his 2005 State of the Union Address to justify and legitimize the unilateral war against Iraq - a sovereign nation. And so he did...

But almost three years after THAT “glorious” speech, would one not have expected to see Iraqi people living “happily-ever-after”, as the result of “the peace that freedom brings” presumably by the American troop and their allies subsequent to their “kind” act of “liberation”?

Three years have passed since the Iraq invasion. Three long years and during this period, not only the human-cost of this unjustifiable occupation is making even the once optimistic-minded wary, the shocking and degrading images of Iraqi prisoners being brutally tortured and humiliated in the hands of American troops, in contrary to International Treaties and Conventions in particular the Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War [to which the US is -of course - a party of, surprise, surprise!] continue to emerge almost on continual basis.  

What is more disturbing though, is hypocrisy of the US government in its refusal to allow the publication of newly emerged photos of Iraqi detainees being tortured by the American troops in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in the fear that they might stir up “anti-American sentiment”.

The newly surfaced photos depict the abuse of detainees in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison almost two years ago, however the Department of Defense in contrary to the Freedom of Information Act has repeatedly refused to release those photos, claiming that they would stir up “anti-American sentiments” throughout the globe. Nevertheless, in September 2005, the Southern District Court of New York in the case of American Civil Liberties Union v Department of Defense made orders directing the Government to release the images. Despite the publication order made by the Court, the Government once again refused to allow the publication of those photos and appealed the Court’s Decision. The matter is still pending before the Supreme Court.

Some of the photos which today have been confirmed as authentic by the Pentagon were aired yesterday by Australian Broadcaster SBS for the first time and were quickly distributed on the Internet. Click here to watch the video.

Forgive me for being curious, but doesn’t this twisted irony go against all that the US apparently stands for and indeed went to war for?  Then how dare do they accuse Muslims of “aggression” and “violence” when the disturbing images of detainee prisoners illustrate evidence of “systematic and widespread abuse” by the military forces against defenseless detainees? How dare do they accuse Muslims of being intolerance of “freedom of expression” subsequent to those infamous Danish cartoons? Yet another case of double standards!!! Salute to “freedom” and “liberation” indeed!

If anything, the very act of the Government’s refusal to allow the publication of those inhumane photos, should act as a wake-up call for the-so-called “liberation” advocates who passionately but blindly hope that one day, Iran too would be “liberated” in the hands of the so-called “liberators”...