Cheap humans [Archives:2004/740/Viewpoint]

That is the best word to describe the possible thoughts on the minds of those evil-minded sick US soldiers who tortured and humiliated Iraqi prisoners.
According to a published report following recent investigations and as we watched on TV, US soldiers would slap, brutalize, humiliate, and abuse prisoners in various forms just for the sake of having fun and amusement.
Some in the West think that it is us Arabs who are barbaric and merciless. But as we all saw on TV, the ugly face of many US soldiers has indeed proven that there are more barbaric people in this world than Arabs.
It is truly disgusting to see how soldiers would be looking at the brutal abuse of Iraqi prisoners with amusement and joy. How on earth were those soldiers raised in their camps? How were they taught the ways to deal with prisoners?
It makes us think that those people perhaps believe that such Iraqis are cheap humans. This may well apply to Afghanistan and prisoners of Guantanamo. Those people have damaged the reputation of the USA for many years to come.
What makes things worse is that American authorities are claiming they are taking serious steps to punish those responsible without ensuring that the source of the problem be addressed, and that is the system as a whole. It is simply impossible to imagine that those soldiers would do such acts and in fact would not worry about taking pictures while they do them unless they have been given the green light from above. It simply doesn't make sense.
But again, who are the ones that are to be held responsible for the level of humiliation that those prisoners are undergoing without any voice to stand for them? It is our Arab leaders, who met at Tunis for the last two days. They and their predecessors are the ones who have continuously and systematically applied unimaginable torture methods against their people. If those do not respect their own people's lives, how can we expect to see them defending their people when they are oppressed by the USA?
If we imagine for a minute that it were Americans who were being abused and tortured in such a way, and if we imagine that a certain force invaded a US island, occupied it and tortured its people in jails, what would the US reaction be? You can just imagine the ironic difference between that and between the reaction of our leaders to what is going on. The fact is that Americans care for their people, and our leaders don't care for us. Why deny it?
Our price as a people has dropped tremendously in the global market to such a level that Arab governments feel 'sorry' for the tortured victims and simply go on with their lives. They sometimes even try to shy away from even saying they are sorry.
As a people, we are seen as the cheapest in the world, and that is why little pity is given for whatever happens to us in our own countries or anywhere else in the world.
That is also one reason explaining the brain drain of Arabs to the West, where they get respect and recognition, especially when they obtain the host country's nationality.
Our leaders need to revise the way they look at their citizens. They need to realize how our religion Islam stressed on the importance of every Muslim soul, as said in a Hadith by Prophet Mohammed (SAS) “Demolishing the Holy Kaaba -in Mecca- one stone after another is less important than killing a Muslim.”
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