President Obama may be withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan,
but
but according to Amnesty International, it
is guilty of the same practices
of torture and criminal murder as its predecessor.
U.S. Still
Killing Afghans 'Like We Were Insects' (Afghanistan Times, Afghanistan)
"Since the
United States is the leading belligerent in the war on terror, there is no one
capable of calling the country to account. It has a military accountable to no one.
Its members are even immune from International Criminal Court trial. This is
the very thing that has exposed the country's true face. America has two faces:
one it wears at home and another it wears abroad. The two faces are 180 degrees
opposed. At home, Americans are told that their government fights for democracy
and human rights - including women's rights and tackling terrorism. Abroad,
however, the U.S. government goes totally against what it says at home."
Amnesty International has released
a candid and honest report on the Obama Pentagon, which highlights the way
it has covered up war crimes in Afghanistan. The human rights watchdog says that
as recently as last year, the U.S. military systematically ignored evidence of
torture and unlawful killings in Afghanistan. With its report, Amnesty has blown
the lid on the issue, but it must be said that the U.S. military didn’t begin the
heinous practice last year, but have been at it for at least the last decade. The
reason President HamidKarzai
has always worn an angry look in front of Americans is because he knew about this.
Why has he so vociferously objected to an American troop
presence in Afghan villages? Because candidly speaking, the U.S. military has
systemically covered up or disregarded abundant compelling evidence of war
crimes, torture, and unlawful killings.
Afghan media, including this newspaper, have consistently raised
concerns, but it is worth appreciating that an international organization like Amnesty
International has finally released such a report.
This may be the reason Karzai has defiantly
refused to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA)
with the United States. Under pressure from all sides - from the parliament,
the senate, his advisors, and few friendly countries, but he hasn't budged an
inch from his standpoint. He knows that the security deal is crucial to retaining
political, economic and security progress, but he may well have been focused on
its darker side: absolute immunity for American troops. As Amnesty revealed,
the U.S. military has failed to properly investigate reports of criminal acts,
and in some cases has tampered with evidence to hide wrongdoing.
Since the United States is the leading belligerent in the
war on terror, there is no one capable of calling the country to account. It
has a military accountable to no one. Its members are even immune from
International Criminal Court trial. This is the very thing that has exposed the
country's true face. America has two faces: one it wears at home and another it
wears abroad. The two faces are 180 degrees opposed. At home, Americans are
told that their government fights for democracy and human rights - including
women's rights and tackling terrorism. Abroad, however, the U.S. government
goes totally against what it says at home.
Today, the world is far less secure than it was 15 or 20
years ago. To safeguard its national interests and defeat the USSR, the United
States created a force called the mujahedeen made up of religious fanatics. When
they were fighting Soviet troops, they were feted as war heroes and holy
warriors by the American press. However, now that the U.S. has come like a
whirlwind to this part of the world, it has adopted a far different course full
of human rights violations, in which Afghan citizens were killed as if we
were insects.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
President Obama has already admitted that "we tortured some
folks." However, Amnesty International's Joanne Mariner, the author of the
agency's latest report, says that this is not a reference to the Bush Administration
alone. This torture is happening under Obama. The difference is that the Bush Administration
officially sanctioned the torture, while Obama vowed to end the practice. Unfortunately,
these verbal assurances haven’t materialized, since it is still going on, even
if this is officially denied by the Obama White House.
This policy amounts to a cover up behind verbal denials, which
is extremely dishonest.
