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During his recent public relations tour of the Middle East, Secretary of
State Colin Powell claims he told Arab leaders they should be 'doubly
outraged at what happened to Mr. Berg' in comparison to the Arab reaction to
the prisoner abuse scandal. During this same interview, Powell complained
that Arab leaders have failed to adequately condemn the beheading.
Interestingly enough, Powell made those statements while being interviewed
in Jordan, one of the many Arab states that publicly condemned the murder of
Nicholas Berg. The official statement published on the Jordanian Embassy's
web site called the act 'barbaric' and informed readers that 'Jordan has
issued a death sentence against Al Zarqawi for his terrorist activities.'
Saudi Arabia also issued a strong condemnation calling the act 'criminal and
inhumane.' The statement by Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, published
on their embassy's web site, went further to explain that the recent
prisoner abuse scandal is no justification for the murder, which is
'condemned by all religions and contrary to the morals of all nations and
peoples.'
The governments of the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, as well as Hamas
and Hezbollah, also issued condemnations of the murder and mutilation of
Nicholas Berg. Arab and Muslim groups in America also issued strong
condemnations and one group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, even
started a petition calling on their co-religionists to participate in
distancing their religion from the criminal acts of a few.
Powell's failure to recognize these condemnations is not unusual.
Condemnation-denial is a tactic employed by those who seek to stir American
animosity against Arabs and Muslims. Right-wing talk show hosts and
columnists performed this same stunt after the 9/11 tragedy, even though
countless Muslim groups, scholars and leaders in America and around the
world issued quick and damning condemnations.
However, Powell's condemnation-denial is not the most unnerving aspect of
his comment. What is most bothersome is the idea that everyone must be
'doubly outraged' from the murder and mutilation of one American citizen in
comparison to the kidnapping, abuse, torture, humiliation, rape,
sodomization and brutal murders of untold numbers of Iraqi prisoners.
Yes, the murder of Nicholas Berg must be condemned in the strongest terms,
but does American citizenship grant an individual twice the humanity of
individuals born in different geopolitical parts of the world? Have the
lives of those born and living outside America been so dehumanized that the
world must see non-Americans as less than half the value of one single
American?
Considering the fact that the more than 20 deaths of Abu Ghraib prisoners
are being investigated in connection with the prisoner abuse scandal, this
would make an Iraqi's life worth less than one-fortieth of a single
American's life. If we add the nearly 15,000 civilians slaughtered by US
forces in Iraq, the value of a single Iraqi life diminishes to less than
one-thirty-thousandths of a single US citizen.
Herein lies the problem.
Valuing human life and recklessly waging wars of greed are two concepts that
have never, and can never, coexist. Until Americans, from individual
citizens to politicians at every level of government, begin to truly value
the lives of all humans equally, regardless of their geopolitical or
religious designation, war and terrorism will remain a part of our
existence.
