IRAQ-POWS: US administration suffers from massive memory lapse, says UAE

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI, Mar 25 2003 (IPS) - The US Administration’s plea to the Iraqi government to treat POWs humanely has been slammed by a United Arab Emirates (UAE) English daily.

Describing the US President George Bush’s camp as suffering from "massive memory lapse", the Dubai-based ‘Gulf News’ said: "The US stand is ironic in that its past actions in relation to POWs do not measure up to those high standards of human rights and dignity."

The paper reminded the Americans of their treatment to prisoners held in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay.

"Among a catalogue of abuses in this regard is the treatment meted out in 2001 to prisoners held at Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan," the paper said in its editorial today, adding that those "massacres" were highlighted by the media and Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, had called for an inquiry, which was then completely rejected by the US..

Another example, ‘Gulf News’ went on to say, is that of the more than 650 detainees held at Guantánamo Bay. "The first pictures showed them blindfolded, shackled and chained in six-by-eight-foot cages exposed to the elements. US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld had said then that he did not feel the slightest concern for the prisoners’ treatment.

– Apparently they are so ‘humane’ that more than 100 inmates staged a hunger strike and no less than 30 tried to commit suicide," ‘Gulf News’ sarcastically commented.

ôThe detainees were not even identified as POWs by Bush as stipulated in the very same Article (3) of the Geneva Convention. Instead, they were labeled as ‘unlawful enemy combatants’, thus deprived of any rights guaranteed by the Convention.

ôSurprisingly, when the US saw five of its soldiers captured, it wasted no time in quoting Article (3) of the Convention," it noted. In fact, the daily maintained, the world should thank the US for reminding it of its very existence.

Taking into consideration the track record of the US, the ICC seems to have turned a blind eye to the criminal activities carried out by none other than the US.

The paper concluded by saying that what needs to be ascertained is whether the various articles stipulated under the Geneva Convention are dependent solely on US interpretation or the international community as a whole.