|
The admittance by the British government that aircraft suspected of being used in CIA operations had landed at British military airports is a matter for concern. It gives rise to our worst fears that these flights have in fact carried detainees to secret interrogation centres in Europe and this apparently includes Malta. Our foreign ministry is right to have requested information from the government of the United States regarding such flights. We can no longer presume that such flights did not take place.
It would be folly to give the American authorities the benefit of the doubt especially since Condoleezza Rice’s declaration for the need to have ‘extraordinary renditions in the context of efforts to counter terrorism.’
The American line implies that all is justified in the war on terrorism. The Machiavellian mantra that the end justifies the means. We beg to differ. We certainly urge the government to not only demand explanations but to spare no time or energy in trying to uncover whether our country’s airspace has been so shamefully violated.
Much to the credit of the free American press the revelations of the flights and the running of secret prisons were uncovered by the Washington Post. The arguments in favour of the flights and the setting up of secret prisons do not hold water and are shocking. The holding of the detainees and their transportation is a violation of international human rights laws. There is growing indignation at reports of ill treatment and even torture especially in countries with long standing democracies where human rights are protected. The secret centres are a violation of the founding principles of the European Union. They violate the European convention of human rights and the European convention for the prevention of torture. Indeed secret detention was a form of torture in itself for the persons detained who are at the mercy of their detainees and worse still for their families who are faced with a situation similar to that of a missing person. The holding of detainees in Guantanamo Bay is a scare on America and its respect for the rule of law, the central pillar in the American democratic edifice.
America simply cannot expect its European allies to simply acquiesce in its war on terror without carrying their support. It is clear that much of the good will sympathy and solidarity which America won following the 9/11 events has dissipated. Gone are the days when the French Le Monde proudly affirmed that we are all Americans now. There was a total affinity with the American people. This was all thrown to the wind when America rushed into war in Iraq on the false premise of its having weapons of mass destruction. There was no such evidence. The war has no help ignite further anti-Americanism all over the world. The effects of the war risks throwing the whole world into further disarray. The holding of free elections and the freeing of Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein are indeed positive developments but the price in terms of human suffering has been enormous and there is still no evidence that the seeds of democracy being sown will flourish. America needs to rethink its strategy and to start working closely yet again with Europe. America needs Europe just as Europe needs America. It is inconceivable to think in terms of two western worlds the one separate from the other. It is further folly to even speak in terms of two conflicting civilisations, the Christian and the Muslim in permanent conflict. Nothing could be more damaging to a peaceful world order. The transportation of the detainees and the existence of the secret prisons risks inflaming further a difficult situation. These two shocking scars on American ideals need to be ended forthwith. They shame America.
|
