The despicable sight of American Marines urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban has fully sullied the America image. The self professed embodiment of virtue is nothing else but a trigger-happy vengeful nation. Assessing entire population of a country with a common measuring rod is unfair. Numerous Americans have made exemplary contributions to the cause of humanity. However the arrogant behaviour of the so called superpower has ignited many conflicts around the world.
After each and every inhuman act getting exposed, America invariably depicts habitual barbaric attitude of its soldiers as an individual failure.  The credibility of such a preposterous claim lies in shreds. America by waging a vengeful so called ‘war on terror’ has trampled the human rights of an entire civilization. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, America retaliated with unimaginable furry. By adopting the doctrine of pre-emptive war, America gave precedence to its national security over the very ideals of universal human rights. In the name of national security America could silence the scathing criticism against the most unjust pre-emptive wars.  Yet the inhuman actions occurring in regular intervals from the shores of Cuba to deserts of Iraq and rugged terrain of Afghanistan cannot be justified even in the name of pre-emptive wars.
The United States as usual reacted to the incident of a video showing “four United States Marines urinating on three dead Taliban fighters” as a condemnable act not in conformity with American values. Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta in a deliberate effort to distance the American military from the most deplorable act, stated, “The conduct depicted in the footage is utterly deplorable, and that it does not reflect the standards or values American troops”. The hyperbole of “inconsistent with American values” will not mitigate the sufferings of the millions caught at the wrong end of American war of vengeance. Had it been a one-off incident, the world would have believed the claims of “inconsistent with American values”. The urinating on dead soldiers is in total contravention of all norms and civilised behaviour: The actions of the Marines in the video could amount to a violation of the Geneva Conventions, which require that the bodies of those killed in war be treated honourably. But when has America treated its adversaries with requisite respect, at least not during the last one decade of pre-emptive war. In 2010 American soldiers in and around of Kandahar were accused of killing “Afghan civilians for sport in a series of crimes”. Such is the anger against America even anti Taliban element are forced to condemn the uncivilised behaviour. Hajji Ahmad Fareed, a former Afghan member of Parliament has said that “the images confirmed to him that America was against Islam. And it “will never be friends with us....
And how will the civilised world explain the existence of Guantánamo Bay prison where inmates were caged like animals. When the prison was established in 2001 the then US secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld had described the prisoners detained there as “worst of the worst”, impliedly justifying the inhuman treatment meted out to them. Out of these so called “worst of the worst”   779 people detained so far 21 were children. “According to U.S. official data, 92 per cent of the 779 had nothing to do with al-Qaida, and the majority have been released without charge or trial”.
Does this bring any burden on collective conscience of West and do caging of prisoners confirm with the American values? Such is the depth of moral depravation; America despite President Obama’s avowal to shut down the prison has decided to keep prisoners detained indefinitely without ant trial, at Guantánamo Bay. The atrocities of Abu Ghraib prison seven year ago are still fresh in the minds, which New York Times rightly described as “an ugly black mark on the American presence in Iraq”. Actually the entire war on terror is an ugly black mark on the face of so called developed world. Had there been some valid justification for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was possible to condemn the worst savagery as an exception rather a standard behaviour. The heroic resistance of Taliban has forced America now to accept that “Taliban is not an enemy’, why America then occupied Afghanistan? After tens of thousands getting killed, America failed to discover any trace of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the raison d’être for Iraq’s invasion. America at the behest of its military superiority may be able to dominate the narrative; as a matter of fact the war of vengeance has fully exposed abysmal reality of its tarnished moral standing.

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Lastupdate on : Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST