EDITORIAL

"Dialogue with words not with bombs"

LETTERS TO UNCLE SAM

By Prof. Talaat I. Farag

• The New World Disorder Syndrome

• Ms. Lynndie: SHAME ON YOU!

• Disturbed Minds

• Lessons from Brad Correa and Craig Kielburger

• Multiculturalism Model

Dear Uncle Sam,

Today, there is utmost need for resolving, understanding and solving the cataclysmic crises that plague our world. At this time, as world news is limited to little more than daily body counts, it often seems that we are living in a 21st century of utter madness. The horrors of the last months are indescribable in their horridness. The seemingly endless hostilities occurring in various locales around the world have scarred many. In a previous letter to Uncle Sam, I discussed what I described as the New World Disorder Syndrome, and how the events that took place on September 11 led to some of the bloodiest clashes between civilizations. Unfortunately, this year, pessimism is rampant as a result of the numerous tragic events that occurred in a cascading and escalating manner: the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the old blind quadriplegic Palestinian upon his exit from the mosque; the massacre that took place in an Indonesian church during Easter prayers; the railway bombings in Madrid that killed hundreds of civilians; the discovery of tons of explosives in Jordan with the potential of killing tens of thousands of people; the killing of four Saudi police officers at a checkpoint; the brutal killing, burning and hanging of four American civil engineers in Fallujah, the bombing of a Shi'ite Mosque in Kashmir; the brutal beheading of Nicholas Berg, a 26-year-old independent American civilian businessman in Iraq; and the displacement, mistreatment and killing of thousands in Dharfur Sudan. Along with billions of people worldwide, I was disgusted further by the photos of American soldiers’ torturing, sodomizing and degrading Iraqi prisoners and detainees in Abu Gharib prison in Baghdad. How can human life become so cheap?!

Ms. Lynndie: SHAME ON YOU!

In my last letter I emphasized the importance of the American role as a “Superdad” and not as a Superpower. Unfortunately, with news about the prison scandal filling newspapers worldwide, it seems the call has fallen on deaf ears. What occurred in Iraqi prisons by some American soldiers led to the disgust of every world leader and all those who respect human rights. The acts were condemned by President Bush and British PM Tony Blair whose nations comprise the thrust of the military force in Iraq.

The Abu Gharib scandal came to light in April 2004 when CBS broadcast photographs that showed naked Iraqi prisoners being tortured and humiliated by their captures. The Washington Post later displayed a photo of a 21-year-old female soldier, Private Lynndie England, holding a leash attached to a naked Iraqi on the prison floor displaying shameful and cowardly actions. Before deployment to Iraq, England worked at a chicken processing plant after high school, married an old friend whom she divorced after two years. She then volunteered to go to Iraq where she became romantically involved with a psychopathic night guard, Charles Graner, another soldier implicated in the abuse scandal.

The digital camera showed images that turned the torture and humiliation at Abu Gharib into a scandal and the 21-year old soldier into the anti-Jessica Lynch and the "star of Abu Gharib prison". She was shown in images holding a leash tied around the neck of a naked Iraqi detainee or jauntily aiming her forefinger like a pretend-gun at the genitals of another naked prisoner or dangling a cigarette from her lips while pointing at another naked prisoner with a smirky smile on her face. In all of the pictures, the poster girl appears to be a playful sadist. Interestingly, she was not even a prison guard, she was merely a paper-pusher who processed prisoners. Ms. Lynndie, the naughty female sadist and star of the Abu Gharib prison scandal, makes us remember the likes of famous criminal sadists such as Karla Homolka, Gertrude Baniszewski, Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez and Mary-Bell. she might go down in history as the girl whose antics marked the turning point of the American will in Iraq. 

American newspapers mentioned that some Iraqi detainees at Abu Gharib jail were subjected to sadistic, blatant and wanton physical and sexual criminal abuses including being sexually humiliated and threatened with dogs and electrocution. All pictures depict conduct and behavior that is so brutal, so cruel and so inhumane, that anyone engaged in it or involved in it would have to be brought to justice. It was astonishing how some members of the coalition forces failed to understand the psychology and social norms of the Arabs. The Nobel Prize Laureate, Naguib Mahfouz, presented in his Cairo Trilogy the character of "Sey Sayed", the conservative powerful male, who can never be controlled and dominated by anyone representing a patriarchal society. In general, the Arabs do not accept public nudity and male pride is a value worth fighting for, especially when men are humiliated sexually. Amr Mousa, Secretary-General of the Arab League, expressed "shock and disgust at the shameful images which constitute an attack on the dignity of man and the most fundamental rights of detainees stipulated in international conventions."

President George Bush was deeply disgusted saying, "Sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoner and the humiliation suffered by their families. The incidents are a stain on our country's honor and our country's reputation." On the other hand, British PM mentioned, "If this happened, it is completely unacceptable." Dr. Shibley Telhami, professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland, told the Washington Post, "the bottom line here, is these are pictures of utter humiliation which will give most Arabs a permanent sense that the situation in Iraq is one of occupation. Today, military in the Middle East is fueled not by the military prospects of Iraq or any other state but by a pervasive sense of humiliation and helplessness in the region." Ms. Lynndie, you brought shame to your family and your country - SHAME ON YOU! It is not enough that these perpetrators be tried by their generals, but rather there is an utmost need that they be treated as war criminals and that the UN takes a key role in their trial under the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Disturbed Minds

The after effect of the Abu Gharib scandal was far reaching and disturbed the minds of many, including a PhD candidate, who sent this poem expressing her feelings, which reflects the opinions of people worldwide.

DISTURBED MINDS!
By Hala Elbanna

So sick what we have witnessed in the media
Concerning “Abou Ghareib Prison”
It is but a reflection on
Disturbed minds!

This is by all means
A reflection on an inner imbalance.
A reflection on tyranny.
A reflection on the abuse of power.
A reflection on pure madness.

How can the world keep those blinders on?
Keep pretending nothing’s wrong?
Keep parroting “Democracy”
While reality holds “Monopoly.”

Fulfillment of sick desires
Has become the code of today.
OH LORD!
Help us get a grip on what’s right
Help us once again be humans,
Sensitive, caring, and understanding.
Help us see the truth
Face whatever’s wrong
AND
Abide by Your Teachings
Those meant to save us.

Lessons from Brad Correa and Craig Kielburger

In Abu Gharib prison, which has a barbarous history during Saddam Hussein's cruel regime, torture, humiliation and random murder were a daily standard within its walls. Today, the illegal, immoral, unethical and intolerable actions done by Lynndie England and her colleagues towards Iraqi prisoners (which resembles those crimes committed by Saddam Hussein) qualify in the New World Disorder Syndrome (NWDS) diagnosis that I reported in a previous Editorial article. This is because she demonstrated psychopathic behavior, aggression, maladjustment, and a complete loss of empathy for the pain and agony caused to her victims.

There is an utmost need to end this cycle through a global uprising. The mute majority have to speak out and express their emotions about the madness, hostility and aggression taking place everywhere. The stories of Brad and Craig are only two such examples of people that spoke out on the issues that threaten our world, and can be a lesson on how to save our humanity and planet.

The story of the 7-year-old American boy, Brad Correa, and his contributions to bringing world peace during the Cold War era were presented in the January 2004 issue of The Ambassadors Magazine. This issue of the Ambassadors Magazine presents the story of the 12-year-old Canadian boy, Craig Kielburger, who has been a strong advocate for liberating and empowering children everywhere by establishing Free the Children and working with the UN to create a generation of youth peacebuilders to avoid armed conflicts. It is delightful, enriching, and reassuring to see that such young people are working to solve the problems of the world and help in implementing global peace while some older persons from industrialized first world countries demonstrated immoral, non-ethical and politically incorrect behavior. The call by these two boys for dialogue and debate with words and not with weapons, with wisdom and not with madness is the lesson that can be taken and applied by policy-makers worldwide. The messages and techniques used by Brad and Craig need to be disseminated worldwide.

Multiculturalism Model

During my time in Cairo for a WHO meeting, I was continuously admiring how so many scientists from different backgrounds can come together to think up solutions for health, poverty and literacy, however it is highly essential to also focus on how to make people in this 21st century RESPECT their neighbors with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds . The 3-day meeting in the EMRO-WHO office in Cairo for the occasion of the launching of a new Global Academy of Tropical Surgery and the new textbook "Tropical Surgery" with 263 contributors from 39 countries with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, ideologies, gender, and religions. The distinguished medical doctors and scientists enjoyed discussions at the EMRO office and at El-Salam Hotel on how to implement global peace and how to overcome poverty, ignorance and diseases globally. There was a unanimous agreement that progress and peace can only be achieved through multicultural interaction and cooperation. It seems that it is essential to accept the fact that there are differences among humans and that it is very dangerous that the world function like a jungle with no rules with regards to human behavior. Despite the great leaps in technology, there seems to be a regression in values and behavior. We have to be convinced that working together through a model of multiculturalism will not only facilitate development and make the world a safer and more stable place to live, it also emphasizes tolerance and respect for one another.

I am convinced now, more than before, that Uncle Sam has to help in preventing the global chaos which may spread everywhere if all of us do not take the role of being peace activists, to save humankind from this destructive era. The key to achieving this goal is global peace education to eradicate hostility, aggression and regression. This begins in every home.  

Yours Sincerely,

Prof. Talaat I. Farag, MD, FRCP(E), FACP, FACMG,
Founder of The Ambassadors Research Foundation 
Email: drfarag@ambassadors.net

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