The Arab Media on Abu Ghraib

rab media’s double standard – i.e., exhaustive coverage of the misdeeds of American soldiers yet complete silence on the spread of the phenomenon of torture in prisons throughout the Arab world.

Here’s Syrian columnist Hayan Nayouf:

“After the scandal of the torture of Iraqi prisoners by American and British soldiers, the Arab media handled this affair in a way arousing ridicule, proving that the Arab media and intellectuals possess everything but objectivity, transparency, and disclosure of the truth and the facts.

“There is no one who does not condemn this damage to prisoners’ rights. There are international agreements that the Americans and others must honor. But in this article, I want to talk about the American president’s apology, and about how this apology was treated by the Arab media and intellectuals.

“The American president, the president of the most powerful country in the world and the most developed with regard to science, art, culture, and democracy, apologized for the deeds of the American soldiers, and all the Americans also apologized for this shameful deed. And then the Arab intellectuals came, with their mocking, idiotic, and illogical media, and ridiculed this apology.

“The question arises whether Saddam or any other Arab leader [ever] apologized. Did Saddam apologize to the Iraqi people for burying a million Iraqis in the ground, for expelling millions of Iraqis, for murdering innocents in his prisons, for his crimes in neighboring countries, for invading Kuwait, and for murdering the Kuwaiti prisoners?

“Enough of your foolishness, Arabs! Hundreds of Kuwaiti prisoners fell victim to Saddam’s crimes. Where were the Arab satellite channels, and why did no Iraqi official apologize?…

“Anyone who reads the Arab media [can get] an attack of madness. Had it not been for American democracy and the uncovering of the torture scandal by the American media, would the Arab media [ever] had heard about it? [Why?] Because [the Arab media] is preoccupied [with encouraging] ethnic [discord] and incitement to violence and terrorism!”