This past week, there have been many protests throughout the Muslim world concerning a report from Newsweek that a Qur’an had been desecrated by American troops at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The protests have resulted in at least 15 reported deaths, and there seems to be little sign of them dying down anytime soon. I've got so many thoughts on this topic, I almost don't know where to begin.
I take issue with anyone killing others under the guise of religious fervor. I also have a serious problem with religious intolerance and disrespect in a country that's supposed to be a Democracy. Finally, I have a serious disdain for sidestepping serious issues to cover up potential corruption. Unfortunately, the worst of each of these scenarios seems to be playing itself out.
In my opinion, the report opened the door for Islamic Extremists to cause a frenzied response from less extreme Muslims. To be sure, many of the protests that we are seeing now were already planned by the extremists, but the report gave them the opportunity to start the cantankerousness a couple weeks early.
And why all the noise now? There seems to be no significant outcry or protests when Muslims attack other Muslims inside Mosques (often destroying the structures and killing dozens); a crime that I would also imagine destroys many copies of the Qur’an as well. Maybe this is a simplification, but it seems to be a bit similar to Black people getting all bent out of shape when a White person uses the “N” word, but seem to have no serious aversion to Blacks calling other Black people by that term of denigration. Point being, if it’s wrong to desecrate, destroy, or disrespect a copy of the Qur’an, then it’s wrong no matter who commits the act, whether a US soldier at Guantanamo or Shiites/Sunnis blowing up each other’s Mosque’s. And I’ll never understand why people have to kill other people when they’re offended racially, religiously, or otherwise; that seems so irreligious to me!
That being said, I think there are several crimes being committed here, and there is a seemingly strong effort by the Bush administration to gloss over the serious travesty that this case should bring to light. There has been heavy pressure from the White House for the magazine to retract the story. So now Newsweek has officially retracted the story, two weeks after they wrote it. The White House has said that this retraction is a good “first step,” but that the magazine needs to go further.
Here’s what I think happened. I’d bet top dollar that someone indeed desecrated a copy of the Qur’an at Gitmo (Guantanamo); that would be consistent with some of the other reports that slip through the media from time to time about the base. So someone at Newsweek actually grew some balls and decided to report on the heinous actions that some US interrogators are taking against prisoners there. If not for the worldwide protests, the story probably would’ve gone under the radar, and it wouldn’t be a top news story today. The protests, however, have raised concerns at the White House that people might actually pay attention to the injustices that are occurring at Gitmo. So instead of investigating whether or not this report is true, the Bush administration calls for the magazine to retract the story (a very backwards approach to an incredibly incendiary claim).
It would seem to me that if the report has a shred of credibility, that the first recourse would be to find out if it’s true (if so, punish the guilty parties), not shut the magazine up as if they were making things up. To that end, I think it’s important to note that the magazine had two weeks to retract the story if it were false, and didn’t until pressured by the administration. Also, NEVER has it been said that the report was false, but that it is being retracted on the basis that there was apparently only 1 source, who MIGHT have gotten the report wrong. And most incriminating, the story was sent to Pentagon officials for review prior to being published, and not a peep about the Qur'an desecration claims was made for 11 days-after the protests began (although there were other criticisms about the report according to CNN). Now if that doesn’t sound shady, I don’t know what does.
By placing the blame on the magazine, however, the Government is taking the focus off of the reports reality (which is incriminating in many ways if true) and making the issue Journalistic integrity. A very wise move if you don’t want to answer the bell on prison corruption. Let’s just call it another Weapon of Mass DistrAction.
I think the real crime here is the religious intolerance, the apparent inhumanity, and the unlawful detaining that has been in existence at the Cuban base for over 3 years now. Although we haven’t seen pictures from Gitmo like the ones we’re so familiar with from Abu Ghraib, intimidation and humiliation seem to be in use there as well. Several reports have indicated that female prison guards have done such things as smeared ketchup on male detainees, pretending to be on their period (clearly with the knowledge that this is an incredible offense to Muslim men). Other reports specify that female prison interrogators have rubbed their breast up against the male detainees. And there are numerous other accounts of female guards and interrogators using their bodies in various ways to “get information” out of the detainees at Gitmo. Yet these reports have been squelched, and I’m sure the Bush administration is afraid that further light may be made of them in the wake of the Qur’an desecration claims.
Ultimately though, I think the greatest crime is that the United States has captured hundreds of prisoners, labeled them enemy combatants, and kept them under US custody without access to lawyers for years. A few dozen prisoners have been released; having spent a couple years there, after it became completely clear that they weren’t members of the Taliban or al-Qaeda. I’d imagine that large sums of the prisoners there have the same testimony, but we’ll never know as long as they can’t be represented before a court.
Two things are particularly disturbing to me about this. First and foremost is the fact that these detainees aren’t allowed access to lawyers. Since when does this nation, which preaches Democracy, not allow for due process of law; which implies the usage of lawyers, judges, and a courtroom? The other disturbing reality is this label of “enemy combatants,” which allows the United States to ignore Geneva conventions because enemy combatants aren’t represented by a State or Country (a necessary qualification under the Geneva conventions). If people aren’t accounted for under Geneva, then that opens the door for a wide range of “legal abuses” to happen to them.
I find it to be an interesting ironic instance: The USA hates Communism and Cuba, but we have a base on the Cuban Island (Guantanamo). What do we do at that base? Carry on like communists: detaining people, denying them a lawyer or representation, persecute them religiously, and abuse/humiliate them.
I just hope that this unfortunate occurrence of religious disrespect brings to light the many atrocities that are going on at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I hope the Bush Administration fails in their attempt to dodge the international bullet of responsibility for detainee mistreatment. And I truly hope that our policies concerning enemy combatants and prison detainees will finally get an ethical overhaul. Too many offenses have been made, and too many lives have been lost for us to continue to look the other way.
-Maelstrom
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