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Iraqi artists express outrage over Abu Ghraib



Interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor about a visual response by 25 artists in Baghdad to the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. At left, a sculpture by Abdel-Karim Khalil depicting a hooded detainee. Snip from CSM story:
Iraqi Union of Artists deputy chairman Qasim Alsabti created a life-size figure of a woman wrapped in a bloodstained white shroud. It symbolizes the rape of women detainees in Abu Ghraib, says Alsabti, who heard of allegations of women prisoners being raped at Abu Ghraib five months before the scandal broke. "There was a letter circulating in Fallujah from a woman inside Abu Ghraib," he says. "She was begging the resistance to bomb Abu Ghraib and bring down the walls on their heads so that their suffering would end. I felt like screaming when I heard this. I wanted to draw the attention of the American people."
[F]or many Iraqis, including artists like Alsabti, Abu Ghraib has become synonymous with what they see as the injustices of the occupation. "It's like an adviser from Saddam Hussei's regime has come back to Iraq and is now advising the Americans," he says.


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Posted: 2004-06-16 03:08:22
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the main difference being that these people can now protest without fear of retribution.....
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Posted: 2004-06-16 03:29:43
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The coalition didn't invade Iraq on the promise that its soldiers would kill the enemy one day, and be Jesus the next.

Its promise to Iraq was more real -- to replace its tyranny with a democracy that is the best protection of freedom and virtue.

The US is now showing Iraq how such a free society works. It has shown that a soldier can complain about the brutality of fellow soldiers, and his generals will punish the guilty. It has shown that a free press will hound politicians to act, and a shamed President will feel forced to say sorry and even go on Arab television to promise justice to the victims.

This is the system the US wants to give to Iraq, and who can say it's worse than what any Arab nation now has? How many dicatators go on television to apologise for the crimes of their troops?

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Posted: 2004-06-16 03:39:49
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Thats where your wrong again mate!..When will you start faceing the reality that America invaded Iraq for the Oil and control over the region.Do you honestly think that anyone believes that crap!.I will believe America the day Liberates zimbabwe from brutal dictator mugabe and then north korea.and whereever theres a dictator.But come on gelfen do u know aswell as i do that america's agenda only applies to Muslim nations.Its because of these double standards that we have all the terrorists running around killing innocent people.And then America and the world wonders where its all coming from.Wake up people!

And another thing you have to know is that When are people in American and the non-muslim nations wake up and realise that Iraq people are not interested in the western idea of democracy!.They are not interested in that kind of freedom..You can force feed muslims on that all you like but in the end they will live by there own traditions and culture..Arab and muslims nations just want to be left alone.If America wants to bring democracy to Iraq then it should with its no:1 allie Saudia Arabia..where Osama and the majority of terrorists originate.The problem with saudia is that the kingdom is playing ball with america so thats why u.s does'nt want to or care about democracy there..America will however go in when they refuse to play ball and remove them from power coz after all the Oil is at stake!.


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Posted: 2004-06-16 03:58:53
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nobody ever accused the US of acting without self-interest. of course the US wants the oil, not to control it themselves but to put it in the hands of someone who is at least stable and rational. i would love to see the US take on North Korea or Zimbabwe, but they won't while they are in the midst of another conflict or while there is no political motivation.

i would beg to differ that muslims aren't interested in freedom to express their ideas without being tortured, or the ability to read a newspaper which criticizes the government, or the rights of sportswomen to perform without being raped by their officials or other athletes tortured for poor performances, or living without the fear of being dumped into a mass grave with 300,000 others. muslim nations may want to be left alone, but many muslim individuals are pleading for help.
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Posted: 2004-06-16 04:10:29
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America does want to control the oil for itself no one in their right mind is going to believe that they want to out in the hands of responsible people..And America will never take on North korea coz they are nuke power and a really adversary that can stand against the u.s..So america lets say is a bit frightened..And they don't speak arabic.the other nations just dont have any oil im afraid..and America is letting the Genocide against the Palestinians go on.Thats where the bush nazi part comes into play..

Who ever told you that muslims nations are pleading for American help and assistance??..Majority of muslims i know hate america and for what its doing in the middle east and they just want them to get out and never return.Arab and Muslim society has existed long before there was any America,they took care of themselves then,I'm sure they can now.Middle East was in relative peace until first the British invaded and started playing with the fates of Arab..Majority of problems caused in the middle east were by the British and Americans.
Palestine was taken away from the Palestinians and turned into some other country.The west has always messed with Arabs and then we wonder why muslims hate us?..I wonder why?
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Posted: 2004-06-16 04:52:50
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firstly, i meant reasonable according to the US definition (i.e. someone willing to trade with them). they don't want to control the oil politically, only economically - which is what they do best. i've made the same point about nth korea myself, and i think there's enough blame on both sides of the palesine-israel affair to create a medium sized continent. i also agree that the US should be active in righting all the world's wrongs, along with every other nation, but i also understand it's not as simple as you seem to be trying to make out. there a various political realities that assert themselves in every situation, so it becomes about (very) long term goals rather than immediate progress.

secondly, i didn't mean they were asking the US for help. i meant help in general. in addition, i am making a significant distinction between muslim states who want to be left alone and muslim (or non-muslim) individuals in some muslim states who want to live free from tyranny. those issues exist, otherwise australia wouldn't have the border control and refugee issues it does (that is a can of worms i don't want to get into).
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Posted: 2004-06-16 05:11:08
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@axxxr

With the greatest of respect I believe that you are being very naive with regard to certain issues and you make some very broad generalisations that don't really stand up when one looks at them properly.

The situation in North Korea is indeed very different to the situation in the Middle East, but you are quite wrong in saying that the U.S. would never attack North Korea; in fact the situation is quite to the contrary. The Bush administration is filled with right wing hawks who think it best to attack North Korea and end the communist regime there, but there are several factors preventing this from happening. The first is China, North Korea only exists in its current state because of Chinese support, whether that be economical, militarily or political. The second factor is the U.S.'s allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, neither want a war in which both their nations stand a very good chance of coming under attack, possibly from nuclear weaponry. The third factor is Russia; again it doesn't want a major war in the region. The fourth factor is the counterbalancing effects of the dove sin the Bush administration.
We should be under absolutely no illusions, however, that if the situation becomes serious enough the U.S. will not attack North Korea, this is the very thing North Korea fears most. An American pre-emptive strike on North Korea would wipe out North Korea's cities, infrastructure and nuclear capability before the North Koreans had time to react. North Korea has at most a few nuclear weapons, if any at all, whilst the U.S. has enough nuclear weaponry to eradicate all life on this planet many times over, when it comes down to it, North Korea doesn't stand a chance if the U.S. decides that attack is the only course of action. This view is supported by the fact that North Korea wants to remain in negotiations with the U.S. and is actively seeking a treaty with the U.S. The North Koreans know that the only thing keeping their country from being attacked are the good intentions of neighbouring countries and political pressure within the U.S. itself.

The Middle East has always been embroiled in wars and disputes, long before the British or Americans became involved. In my opinion peace cannot be achieved by the Israelis and Palestinians on their own, it needs to be imposed upon them. I say this because neither side has been able to live with the other, in peace, for any length of time during the past fifty odd years. Extremist Islamic terrorism ultimately springs from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and it isn’t going to go away until this conflict is resolved.
The Arab world has to learn to accept that Israel is here to stay and that it is not going to be destroyed as long as America supports it, of course Israel also needs to realise that the Palestinians have as much right to their own state as the Israelis do. America should use its power to impose a peace treaty upon the Middle East, by doing so it would ensure that American lives are saved and that terrorism is attacked on a fundamental level.
We must also realise that many Arab countries are not democracies and that the people are not free to choose their own rulers, they have policies imposed upon them and it is often the case that power hungry rulers will use the U.S. and the West in general as scapegoats for their own shortcomings. The West can only be blamed for so much, if the extremists are allowed to whip up more and more hatred for the West then the consequences will be dire indeed. If hatred for the West reaches the point where open state sponsored terrorism against Western nations is being instigated then it could lead to a war between the West and the Arab world, a war which the Arab world could never win and would ultimately lead to the deaths of millions.
This ‘doomsday scenario’ can be prevented very easily, by both the Western powers and Muslims nations around the world. The Muslim nations need to clamp down on terrorism and extremism and also allow their citizens greater freedom and opportunity. The Western nations need to use their wealth and power to promote peace and better living standards for those in poorer countries. The best weapon in the fight against terrorism is to take away the base ideology of hatred.
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Posted: 2004-06-16 07:10:35
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@scotsboy: well said.
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Posted: 2004-06-16 08:32:15
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I also would love to see that idiot Mugabe overthrown and North Korea's hardline regime overthrown.

Many people in Iran (not to mention the world) want to see the end of the Clerics that run their country, but have said categorically that they don't want the US or anyone else invading their country to do it; they want to get rid of their hated leaders themselves without seeing a foreign power driving tanks up their main street!

I have to admit @axxxr mate that I find the idea that the UN is basically run by the CIA hard to swallow - but do agree they've probably carried out a lot of covert surveillance a bit like our MI6 were on Kofi Annan before being caught with their pants down (MI6 that is, not Kofi! )

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of people in these middle-eastern states probably haven't ever tasted freedom, so don't know what it's like. To draw a mobile phone parallel, I never really thought about using a phone like a P800 till I actually got hold of one and thought 'this is the way forward!' Speaking of which I should be getting mine back from CPW today. Yey!! Sorry, back to business....

On the other hand, it could be argued that life here in the UK/US isn't much better for different reasons - We can say what we want about our leaders, but we're forever looking over our shoulder for teenage muggers high on some shite wanting your mobile phone to sell for his next hit or he'll cut you into ribbons. All whilst the police and rule-makers are too busy catching people going 5mph over the speed limit and trying to ban words like 'blackboard' for being racist instead of catching criminals and helping to uphold moral and family values it's become so unfashionable to behold.

I've just read that last bit back to myself, it makes me sound about 56, not 26!
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Posted: 2004-06-16 11:28:59
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