Pax Americana
What is certain is that an image warfare has begun, stirring emotions in both the Western and Arab worlds and further deepening distrust of the US in the region.
"Why would the Pentagon release pictures of US soldiers humiliating Iraqis?" asked Galal Amin, professor of economics at the American University in Cairo. "I wonder if the pictures are deliberate; a message to the Arabs that summarises an opinion: 'This is what we think of you, this is what you deserve.'" Indeed, images of a US soldier pulling a naked Iraqi prisoner by a leash or the British soldier urinating on another Iraqi, many others argue, depict the racism at the heart of the Anglo-American occupation. It is precisely the occupation that the Arabs should be reacting to, commentators stressed this week.
In a widely read article published in the daily Al-Ahram on Tuesday, columnist Fahmy Howeidy emphasised the importance of addressing the "main question" and the "real scandal", which is the occupation of Iraq. "The atrocities committed in Abu Ghraib are only a chapter of the real problem which is occupation," he wrote.
Amira Howeidy/Al-Ahram Weekly May.13-19.04
