God Should Punish You!
Published in New Dawn
(Turkey) on 13 January 2012
by İbrahim Karagül (link to original)
(Turkey) on 13 January 2012
by İbrahim Karagül (link to original)
Translated from
by Matthew Vallo.
Edited by Jessica Boesl
.
Have you seen that picture? Or that image? How can these images be broadcast and shown to people? We have witnessed one of the most despicable states of the human race once again. The treatment applied by U.S. soldiers to the corpses of Taliban members they killed in Afghanistan... It's not even certain that they were members of the Taliban. Even if they had been, if they had been guilty of the most savage crimes, no one could stoop as low as the soldiers in those disgraceful images.
This is a culture. This is not an isolated incident as alleged. This is not the behavior of a few people who were looking for an adventure and took it too far. For ten years we have witnessed dozens of similar events. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of us who are not aware of them.
This is the work of a country that invaded Afghanistan, and under the guise of a “War on Terror” has caused similar ugly incidents in every corner of the globe. This is the work of a country that in Africa's most remote corners, in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, in the Negev desert in Israel, in Central Asian countries, in today's enemy Syria, in Jordan, in countries of the European Union and in the basement of buildings on the busiest streets in Western countries has questioned, tortured and killed an uncountable number of people.
We know the mentality behind this treatment, deemed proper toward those seen as enemies, especially Muslims. Whatever the political statements are, whatever type of investigations are opened, whatever apologies are given, these soldiers are rendered to such a mental state before being sent to Muslim countries. They are programmed to carry out the type of humiliating acts seen in Abu Ghraib, at the Bagram base and in the other secret prison camps. They are motivated with the intention to insult people and their countries, identities, values, religions and books.
The Iraq invasion was carried out with a crusading spirit. After the invasion, all of the country's values were humiliated, its beliefs insulted and its cultural assets looted. In almost every country, in every part of invaded land, we saw the same thing. They developed humiliation tactics against Islamic societies that they considered enemies and threats. They used methods of torture from the Nazi era and benefited from the experts of those times.
In the past, German soldiers took commemorative photos with skulls. The thousands of bodies buried in the desert around the Mazar-i-Sharif belonged to humans who were killed by torture, filled with bullets and burned with acid. In Iraq, practices against women were carried out using the same mentality. There were torture centers in which just women were held and camps in which just children were held. Most of them are still operating. With the silent consent of states, large operations are being carried out.
For the last ten years, hundreds of thousands of people have been interrogated. Hundreds maybe thousands have been lost. We only know of Guantanamo. And Abu Gharib, which happened to come to light by chance. For ten years Guantanamo Bay has stayed open. Barack Obama's most important promise was the closing of Guantanamo, but it has not been closed.
We remember the prison pictures of cargo planes lined one by one with those taken from Afghanistan, their hands and feet bound and their heads hooded. Hundreds of similar flights were made. People were moved to the world's major centers. Most of these people have been lost.
We as Turkish people should forget about investigating the traffic, we haven't even been able ask how the Incirlik base (In Turkey) was used for this prison trade. We haven't gone as far as finding out whether Turkey housed those torture centers and interrogation halls. We do not know if Turkey was included in the prison trade agreement, signed by most of the European Union's 30 members.
The state's interest, geopolitical calculations, daily political shows, the formation of closely bonded friendships based on enemies, cries of democracy, hollow political rhetoric and perceived threats imposed upon us... Most of these are lies.
As a result of lies, power is being shaped, nations are being established and destroyed, the map is changing. We are just amusing ourselves with these lies.
We don't know how to show respect for the dignity of the human race, value and freedom. As long as we do not claim these rights, we will be doomed to a world shaped by these disgusting people.
Let's make a choice between the honor of the Afghan lying on the ground who was fighting to defend his country, and the disgraceful soldier who came from thousands of miles away to urinate on a corpse.
Which one are we with?
This is a culture. This is not an isolated incident as alleged. This is not the behavior of a few people who were looking for an adventure and took it too far. For ten years we have witnessed dozens of similar events. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of us who are not aware of them.
This is the work of a country that invaded Afghanistan, and under the guise of a “War on Terror” has caused similar ugly incidents in every corner of the globe. This is the work of a country that in Africa's most remote corners, in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, in the Negev desert in Israel, in Central Asian countries, in today's enemy Syria, in Jordan, in countries of the European Union and in the basement of buildings on the busiest streets in Western countries has questioned, tortured and killed an uncountable number of people.
We know the mentality behind this treatment, deemed proper toward those seen as enemies, especially Muslims. Whatever the political statements are, whatever type of investigations are opened, whatever apologies are given, these soldiers are rendered to such a mental state before being sent to Muslim countries. They are programmed to carry out the type of humiliating acts seen in Abu Ghraib, at the Bagram base and in the other secret prison camps. They are motivated with the intention to insult people and their countries, identities, values, religions and books.
The Iraq invasion was carried out with a crusading spirit. After the invasion, all of the country's values were humiliated, its beliefs insulted and its cultural assets looted. In almost every country, in every part of invaded land, we saw the same thing. They developed humiliation tactics against Islamic societies that they considered enemies and threats. They used methods of torture from the Nazi era and benefited from the experts of those times.
In the past, German soldiers took commemorative photos with skulls. The thousands of bodies buried in the desert around the Mazar-i-Sharif belonged to humans who were killed by torture, filled with bullets and burned with acid. In Iraq, practices against women were carried out using the same mentality. There were torture centers in which just women were held and camps in which just children were held. Most of them are still operating. With the silent consent of states, large operations are being carried out.
For the last ten years, hundreds of thousands of people have been interrogated. Hundreds maybe thousands have been lost. We only know of Guantanamo. And Abu Gharib, which happened to come to light by chance. For ten years Guantanamo Bay has stayed open. Barack Obama's most important promise was the closing of Guantanamo, but it has not been closed.
We remember the prison pictures of cargo planes lined one by one with those taken from Afghanistan, their hands and feet bound and their heads hooded. Hundreds of similar flights were made. People were moved to the world's major centers. Most of these people have been lost.
We as Turkish people should forget about investigating the traffic, we haven't even been able ask how the Incirlik base (In Turkey) was used for this prison trade. We haven't gone as far as finding out whether Turkey housed those torture centers and interrogation halls. We do not know if Turkey was included in the prison trade agreement, signed by most of the European Union's 30 members.
The state's interest, geopolitical calculations, daily political shows, the formation of closely bonded friendships based on enemies, cries of democracy, hollow political rhetoric and perceived threats imposed upon us... Most of these are lies.
As a result of lies, power is being shaped, nations are being established and destroyed, the map is changing. We are just amusing ourselves with these lies.
We don't know how to show respect for the dignity of the human race, value and freedom. As long as we do not claim these rights, we will be doomed to a world shaped by these disgusting people.
Let's make a choice between the honor of the Afghan lying on the ground who was fighting to defend his country, and the disgraceful soldier who came from thousands of miles away to urinate on a corpse.
Which one are we with?