U.S. abuses at Guantanamo Bay confirmed

Reports by Newsweek magazine that U.S. soldiers flushed copies of the Koran down a toilet at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp sparked a firestorm of protest across the Muslim world.

After Newsweek published the story, uprisings against the brutal U.S. occupation spread throughout Afghanistan. Dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds more were injured as Hamid Karzai’s puppet regime unleashed its police forces on crowds of resisters.

Many Arabs and Muslims view the Koran desecration as another example of the human-rights abuses perpetrated by U.S. forces, from the torture chambers of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib to the streets of Falluja.

The Bush administration adamantly denied the allegations. Pentagon officials claimed the Newsweek report “was irresponsible and … is demonstrably false.” Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman has insisted that there is no evidence of “willful Koran desecration.”

The White House and State Department both issued statements blaming News week for the loss of life that resulted when police used force to contain the protests in Afghanistan.

These government officials’ words and actions have had a chilling effect on the U.S. media. Under pressure from administration officials and the Pentagon, Newsweek eventually retracted its story and apologized for unspecified errors in its reporting.

The Pentagon has yet to demonstrate that the claims are false. Contrary to Whitman’s statement, newly declassified FBI documents confirm that credible reports of Koran desecration at Guantanamo surfaced as early as 2002. The Red Cross says it warned Washington about incidents of Koran desecration by U.S. interrogators years before Newsweek published its story.

A second round of demonstrations erupted throughout Asia and the Middle East after U.S. investigators were forced to admit that soldiers at Guantanamo had mishandled the Koran on several occasions. Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Indo ne sia and Malaysia were rocked by protests.

Demonstrators burned U.S. flags and effigies of President George W. Bush. They chanted slogans against the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and for the liberation of Palestine.

In response to the anger of their citizens, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Malaysia and Paki stan condemned the reported desecrations. Pakistan has called on the United States to launch a “serious probe” into the claims of Koran abuse.

As more evidence surfaces to confirm the Newsweek story, it appears that the Bush administration may need to retract its own statements that no credible allegations of Koran desecration exist.

‘Systematic torture’
at Guantanamo

Amnesty International recently weighed in on the controversy, releasing its report documenting a pattern of systematic torture of Guantanamo detainees.

U.S. officials have attempted to intimidate AI in a fashion similar to its attacks on Newsweek, calling the report “irresponsible” and “absurd.” Amnesty has called on the United States to close its Guantanamo Bay operations and release all prisoners who have not been formally charged with a crime.

American Civil Liberties Union Exe cutive Director Anthony Romero laid the blame solely on the Bush administration. In a recent news release, Romero said, “The United States government continues to turn a blind eye to mounting evidence of widespread abuse of detainees held in its custody.”

Romero has called on the Bush administration to “hold accountable high-ranking officials who allow the continuing abuse and torture of detainees.”

But Washington has no incentive to hold its officials accountable. The Koran desecration is part and parcel of the Bush administration’s policy of systematic torture and dehumanization that has accompanied the racist “war on terror” from the beginning.

Behind the facade
of democracy

U.S. imperialism demonstrated its disregard for the lives of poor people of color in the Middle East and Central Asia with its use of indiscriminate force at the beginning of the Afghan and Iraqi invasions. Its “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq purposely maximized civilian casualties in an attempt to demoralize the masses and break their will to resist.

These tactics contradict Washington’s claim that its goal is to bring democracy to the region. The Bush administration does not practice democracy at home; it does not intend to spread it abroad.

The war in Iraq fulfills the U.S. ruling class’s economic goal: control of that nation’s oil reserves. The imperialist powers had looked for an opportunity to intervene for decades since, a progressive nation al revolution nationalized Iraq’s petroleum resources.

The brutal U.S.-led occupation is extreme ly unpopular with the Iraqis and Afghanis who bear the brunt of allied oppression. Bush’s quest of total U.S.-Israeli domination of the Middle East is increasingly threatened by a resistance movement determined to drive out the occupying forces.

Acts of torture and prisoner abuse only fuel the insurgency. And they have given rise to an ever louder call that echoes down the streets from New York City to Najaf: U.S. troops out now!