American
Barbarism
By
Barry Grey
WSWS.ORG
25 July 2003
The world was subjected
to a gruesome and barbaric spectacle on Thursday when the Bush administration
released photographs of the mutilated corpses of Saddam Husseins
sons, Uday and Qusay, ambushed and killed by American forces on July
22.
The American cable
news networks wasted no time in displaying blowups of the bloody heads
and torsos of the dead men and beaming the images into homes across
the US and around the world. US government spokesmen and media commentators
could barely conceal their glee at the sight of the shattered bodies,
and their satisfaction over inflicting the pictures on a global audience.
Nothing the World
Socialist Web Site could say would be a more devastating indictment
of the degenerates who wield power in the US and their media accomplices
than their own self-exposure. The overwhelming majority of people around
the world, and especially in the US, will feel only revulsion and shame
at this exhibition of sadism.
Whatever one thinks
of the deposed Iraqi ruler and his sonswho were undoubtedly guilty
of reprehensible crimesthe actions of the Bush administration
in slaughtering Uday and Qusay Hussein and then gloating over their
dead bodies demonstrate that the US ruling elite has nothing to learn
from its enemies when it comes to savagery and contempt for human life.
Bush administration
notables such as Paul Bremer, the American proconsul in Iraq, and Donald
Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, justified the release of the photos
as a supposed boon to the Iraqi people. The aim, they said, was to convince
the Iraqis that Saddams sons and right-hand men were well and
truly dead. This, they claimed, would reassure the people that the Baathist
regime was finished and would not return.
Not only that. It
would, said Bremer, encourage ordinary Iraqis to come forward with information
about the whereabouts of other Baathists (above all, although Bremer
did not name him, the still-at-large Saddam Hussein) and demoralize
those who are waging a guerrilla war against the American occupiers.
Rumsfeld claimed at a joint press conference with Bremer that the showing
of the photographs would save the lives of American troops.
Speaking in Philadelphia,
Bush exhulted, Now, more than ever, the Iraqis can know that the
former regime is gone and is not coming back. The previous day,
Bush stood alongside Bremer, Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Richard Myers and boasted that the killing of Husseins sons meant
the US military was on the offensive in Iraq against
a few remaining holdouts of the Baathist regime.
To the extent that
Bush and company truly believe such claims, they reveal the degree to
which they are suffering from political dementia and self-delusion.
The display of American arrogance and contempt for human sensibilitieslet
alone deeply felt cultural feelings about the desecration of the deadwill
only fuel the hatred of the Arab masses for the invaders and their quislings
within Iraq. Indeed, even as the photos were being broadcast, news reports
were circulating about the death of three more American soldiers in
Iraq.
Despite all of the
winning the hearts and minds blather, it was impossible
to conceal a more ruthless motive behind the release of the photosnamely,
to intimidate and terrorize the Iraqi people and show in the most graphic
manner possible who is boss in the new Iraq.
There are indications
that the pressure to release the photos came primarily from the White
House and the civilian leadership of the Pentagon, headed by Rumsfeld,
not the military. On Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commanding
Army officer in Iraq, told reporters the military was reluctant to release
the grisly images. He was doubtless concerned about the ramifications
of issuing the photos for the safety of American soldiers on the ground.
But that evening,
Rumsfeld told reporters, There will be pictures released,
and on Thursday he claimed responsibility for the decision to release
them. Significantly, the photographs were issued by Bremer, an appointee
of the White House, not by the Army.
Militarism and criminality
The fact that those
who wield power in Washington are blind to the mass revulsion that will
arise in response to the showing of these photos highlights the insular
and degenerate character of the American ruling elite. These traits
are concentrated in the man who sits atop the government.
The political calculations
of Bush and his associates, such as his chief adviser Karl Rove, are
of the most crude and backward sort. It is no exaggeration to say they
reflect a criminal mentality.
Bushs inner
circle was intimately involved in the decision to massacre the Hussein
sons and release the photos of their corpses. They believed that such
a success would reverse the unfavorable political momentum
of recent weeks, which have seen a mushrooming controversy over administration
lies, mounting US casualties in Iraq, and a failing economythe
combined effect of which has been reflected in plummeting poll numbers
for Bush.
The New York Times
reflected the thinking in the White House in a July 24 article headlined,
Deaths of Husseins Sons Allow Change of Subject. The
author wrote: With the deaths of Saddam Husseins sons on
Tuesday in Iraq, a bad political month for President Bush got palpably
better. The author went on to write that privately, advisers
to the White House said the development marked an important turn of
fortune... He quoted a top Republican adviser as saying, But
the death of the Hussein brothers has a tactical political meaning because
it changes the subject from the 16 words in the State of the Union.
Role of the media
It will come as
no surprise to thosethe vast majoritywho retain a sense
of humanity and have not lost their political bearings that the American
media played a particularly despicable role in these events. On Thursday
morning, Jerry Nachman, the editor-in-chief of MSNBC, the cable news
network jointly controlled by NBC and Microsoft, indulged in commentary
with overtly racist overtones while photos of the shattered corpses
played across the TV screen.
Nachman justified
the showing of the photos on the grounds that the US was obliged to
tailor its tactics to the mentality of the Arab people, who, he declared,
routinely witnessed public executions and had come to expect public
beheadings. He was seconded by the pundit of the moment, Con Coughlin,
author of a book entitled Saddam: King of Terror. Coughlin opined that
the display of the photos would win respect for the Americans
in the Arab world.
On CNN, moderator
Wolf Blitzer opened up the telephone lines for comments from the public,
and was taken aback when the first caller denounced the broadcast of
the photos as a moral abomination, and reminded him that among those
killed in the American assault on Tuesday was the 14-year-old son of
Qusay Hussein, Mustapha. Why dont you show his photo too?
she demanded.
It should be recalled
that during the US invasion, the Bush administration publicly denounced
the Arabic network Al-Jazeerah for displaying photos of American soldiers
killed and taken captive by Iraqi forces, calling it a flagrant violation
of international law. The White House demanded that US media outlets
refuse to broadcast or publish the photos, and the major media meekly
complied.
The contrast to
the medias current role in emblazoning the photos of the dead
Hussein brothers at the behest of the government only underscores its
corruption and subservience to political reaction and the Bush White
House.