America Outside the Law!

Wherever the United States goes with its military forces, it leaves behind overwhelming chaos and violence. The new Iraq daily sinks in a pool of blood created by terrorist attacks, which, in a cynical political maneuver, seek to ensure that today the entire spectrum does not succeed in getting out of the growing crisis and the dark and terrifying future of the country together. More than a decade after the American-NATO invasion, Afghanistan is sinking in a morass of violence, killing, corruption and terrorism. With this comes U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement in Kabul that Afghanistan is a favored ally. This was not important to the Afghan people, who are still suffering the ravages of poverty, ignorance and extremism.

After Mrs. Clinton apologized to Pakistan for the killing of more than 20 soldiers in a drone attack, America’s administration continues to launch attacks in the border regions that claim the lives of dozens of members of the military. America is turning its closest ally into an enemy. Afghans demanded repeatedly that Washington stop using the drones that kill women and children and destroy wedding parties and beloved homes. But President Obama refused to do this. Instead, he released drones into the skies from Yemen and Somalia to the Philippines, despite the general’s recognition that the collateral damage (i.e. civilian deaths) is high in most cases.

America is a blind force running loose in the world; this state, which is the worst example of a state, claims democracy and respect for human rights while being condemned by those closest to it. A few days ago, former president Jimmy Carter published an article in the Herald Tribune newspaper that accused his country of abandoning its historic role as a defender of human rights around the world. It went further to say that the United States’ human rights record is flawed and that [the nation] has lost the moral authority to talk about human rights and maintaining personal freedoms, even inside the U.S.

The article by Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace, referred to an assassination policy that the administration pursued outside of the U.S. and has killed American citizens. The article referred to a new and recently adopted law that gives the president the authority to indefinitely detain people, even Americans, on the suspicion of an affiliation with terrorists, without oversight by Congress or federal courts.

In addition, other laws passed after the 9/11 terror attacks under the pretext of protecting national security violate the personal freedoms of citizens and allow the monitoring of communications and electronic correspondence by intelligence agencies without a warrant. Months after Obama promised to close Guantanamo, where torture was used to obtain confessions, he has not done so. Carter says that half of the detainees there, 169 of them, were acquitted. However, it is unlikely that they will be released. As for the rest, they will spend the rest of their lives in prison without being charged or brought before the courts.

America was a sponsor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but today it violates most of the terms of this declaration. It has been blinded by its military power and arrogance that put it above accountability. Carter says that the record of the United States shows that it shamefully goes contrary to the trend of history, which arose after the peoples of the world demanded freedom, justice and democracy. Instead of providing the highest image of itself to the rest of the world, America creates more enemies and embarrasses their friends by flouting the letter and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.