News about Iraqi prisoners being tortured and humiliated by American troops at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad was the most significant but horrific story of 2004.
The graphic images of an Iraqi prisoner standing on a box with his head covered, wires attached to his hands and that of an American woman guard holding a nude Iraqi man by a dog leash around the neck sent shockwaves across the globe.
The world was offered a glimpse of US abuses manifested in their most explicit form. The tortures at Abu Ghraib cannot be seen as isolated incidents, as portrayed by the US administration. The Muslim world saw in those crude images small designs of a
Larger pattern to trample Muslim dignity and honor.
The pictures from Abu Ghraib epitomized a planned, systematic US policy of humiliation and demoralization of Muslims and occupation of their lands. America's invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, its threats to take more unilateral action against other Muslim nations, its blind support to Israel and its contempt for UN illustrate the nature of the leadership in the White House which regards the US as a country above international law.
The much-proclaimed US "war against terror" has turned into terror itself. The so-called liberators of the Iraqi people are now their tormentors. Iraq lies in ruins and innocent lives are being cut short in the thousands. What a liberation!
The shameful scenes from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay have knocked out all pretensions by the US to introduce democracy, freedom and the rule of law to the Middle East. They have more than ever convinced the Orient that the Occident's rhapsody of human rights is full of sham and hypocrisy geared to serve the West's self-interests.
People may forgive and forget acts born out of ignorance, but not what is done out of sheer contempt and malice.
In Europe, the terror bombings in Madrid and the killing of the Dutch filmmaker Van Gogh have unleashed a hysterical campaign of Islamophobia. Muslim worship places, schools and charity institutions are not only targets of attack by racist groups but are also facing increasing police action.
The ban on Muslim headscarves and the gag on the Lebanese TV al-Manar in France are all manifestations of growing intolerance in European societies. But the gruesome images from Abu Ghraib speak of another grim reality, the total incompetence and failure of the Muslim-Arab world to stand up to the western political, cultural and military onslaught.
The Holy Quran has given the formula for change: "God will not change the condition of a people unless they change what is in themselves."
The year that is coming to an end was a year of violence, destruction and instability, of growing intolerance and hatred. Let us hope 2005 would see sense and understanding, reconciliation, dialogue and peace.