Look out Uzbekistan, Myanmar, and China, there's a new player on the human abuses scene: And this newcomer is Number One, with a bullet. -{ape}
Lady%20Liberty.jpg
And the Winner is...U.S.A.
C. L. Cook
May 25, 2005
Well, it had to happen. Every champion has its day, and then is done. It seemed unlikely the seasoned brutes running places like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, North Korea, and Iraq (in the old days) would ever be knocked from their vicious podiums, but in just over four years George W. Bush and his gang have rocketed the charts to top spot in Amnesty International's list of global heavies. And there seems no turning back.
In just four short years, the United States has transformed itself from the Defender of Light and Liberty to become the Dark Lord of Empire. Just imagine the accomplishments another four years promise: Imagine it like a distant scream bellowed from the belly of Abu Ghraib; imagine its echo, ricocheting from Baghdad to Bagram, Gitmo to the unknown outposts of America's global network of proxy gulags; imagine it bouncing from bloodied stone walls, through iron bars and steel doors, inexorably making its way to the surface.
And now, breaking into the light, the scream reveals Lady Liberty naked and gore-flecked.
Of course, you sophisticates out there, well versed in Chomsky and Zinn will yawn at Amnesty's top prize winner: What about Southeast Asia, Central America, the Philippines? What about the destruction of the first "Americans," gifted poxy blankets, whiskey and steel? "What else," you may ask, gentle reader, "is NEW!" While all you say, and much more, is true and has been known for a long time, this time it's different.
While the eminent Mssrs. mentioned above have spent decades banging their typewriters against the stony silence of America's conscience to bring this point home, what's new now is this: America's high horse on human rights abuses has come up lame. Its notable competitors in outrage witness that nag's pasturing and are instructed: No more will the long, wagging finger of Uncle Sam's disaproval hamper their economic, or military interests.
Following the world leader as ever, the pilchards and fry practicing their piddling atrocities in the deep places far from the light, the degraders of dignity, neglectors of humanity's aspirations, are now freed. Never now will a discouraging word be heard coming from Sheriff Sam. Just listen to this laugher from AI's Secretary General, Irene Khan:
" In 1973 AI published its first report on torture. It found that: “torture thrives on secrecy and impunity. Torture rears its head when the legal barriers against it are barred. Torture feeds on discrimination and fear. Torture gains ground when official condemnation of it is less than absolute.” The pictures of detainees in US custody in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, show that what was true 30 years ago remains true today.
Despite the near-universal outrage generated by the photographs coming out of Abu Ghraib, and the evidence suggesting that such practices are being applied to other prisoners held by the USA in Afghanistan, Guantánamo and elsewhere, neither the US administration nor the US Congress has called for a full and independent investigation."
What this says to both the heinous regimes already out there, and those others contemplating the "Marquis de Sade Methodology of Governance" is: "Hey, go nuts! Nobody cares." Sure Italy, you can dispose of your constitution. Sure China, you can practice religious persecution. Sure Uzbekistan, put another pot on the fire! Goody Two-Shoe America is past; time to meet the new number one!
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, a weekly public affairs program, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. He's also a contributing editor to PEJ.org. You can check out the Gorilla Radio blog here.
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