Devastating Symbols

Barack Obama once called the war on terror – initiated by President George W. Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks – a shameful chapter in American history. The accuracy of his assessment was recently shown by the latest Wikileaks revelations concerning the treatment of prisoners captured in that struggle. As handbooks, manuals and other internal Pentagon documents show, human rights abuses were not only regrettable collateral damage in that war but deliberate policy, whether in Guantanamo in Cuba, Abu-Ghraib in Iraq, Bagram in Afghanistan or in torture facilities in Allied countries into which prisoners suspected of terrorist activity disappeared. Guantanamo, above all, became the symbol of Washington’s devastating policies and remains so today.

Then, despite all the publicity, Obama didn’t close the prison. Human rights abuses newly documented by Wikileaks will not result in any indictments. And more: as far as rights abuses go, Obama has far outdone his predecessor in many aspects especially if one considers his expansion of the killings by unmanned drones. Those account for far more than 200 deaths in Pakistan alone and include innocent civilians.

The shameful chapter hasn’t yet come to an end.