Greenwald writes: "The U.S. loves
human-rights-abusing regimes and always has, provided they 'cooperate':
meaning, honors U.S. dictates. On human rights abuses, such compliant regimes
'get at least a free pass.'"
Shiite rebels known as Houthis, gather at houses destroyed by a Saudi-led airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, July 3, 2015. (photo: Hani Mohammed/AP)
Two Short Paragraphs That Summarize the US Approach to
Human Rights Advocacy
By
Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
13 September 15
In his excellent article on
the unique guilt-by-association standard being imposed on newly elected Labour
leader Jeremy Corbyn, my colleague Jon Schwarz references a passage from a 2013 Washington Post article
that I want to highlight because of how illuminating it is. That Post article
describes the Obama administration’s growing alliance with human-rights-abusing
regimes in Africa, which allow the U.S. to expand its drone operations there,
and contains this unusually blunt admission from a “senior U.S. official”
(emphasis added):
Human-rights groups have also accused the U.S.
government of holding its tongue about political repression in Ethiopia,
another key security partner in East Africa.
“The countries that cooperate with us get at least a
free pass,” acknowledged a senior U.S. official who specializes in Africa but
spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. “Whereas other countries
that don’t cooperate, we ream them as best we can.”
The Post article went on to note that the Bush
administration “took the same approach” and that while “many U.S. diplomats and
human-rights groups had hoped Obama would shift his emphasis in Africa from
security to democracy . . . that has not happened.” In fact, “‘there’s pretty
much been no change at all,’ the official said. ‘In the end, it was an almost seamless
transition from Bush to Obama.'”
The italicized portion of the quote explains the crux
of feigned U.S. concerns for human rights abuses: it’s never genuine, never
anything more than a weapon cynically exploited to advance U.S. interests. The
U.S. loves human-rights-abusing regimes and always has, provided they
“cooperate”: meaning, honors U.S. dictates. On human rights abuses, such
compliant regimes “get at least a free pass”: at least, meaning either
passive acquiescence or active support. The only time the U.S. Government
pretends to care in the slightest about human rights abuses is when they’re
carried out by “countries that don’t cooperate,” in which case those flamboyant
objections to abuses are used by U.S. officials as punishment for disobedience:
to “ream them as best we can.”
This is not remotely new, of course, nor should it be
even slightly surprising for people who pay minimal attention to the role of
the U.S. Government in the world. But this nonetheless highlights what baffles
me most about U.S. political discourse: how – whenever it’s time to introduce
the next “humanitarian war” or other forms of attack
against the latest Evil Dictator or Terrorist Group of the Moment – so many
otherwise intelligent and well-reasoning people are willing to believe that the
U.S. Government is motivated by opposition to human rights abuses and
oppression.
Support for human rights abuses and tyranny – not
opposition to it – is a staple of U.S. foreign policy. Standing alone: how can
anyone believe that the same government that lavishes the Saudi regime with arms, surveillance capabilities and
intelligence is waging war or using other forms of violence in order
to stop human rights abuses? [Read this informative New York Times
article today describing the central role played by the U.S.
government in the ongoing, truly heinous slaughter of Yemeni civilians by its
close Saudi ally, consistent with the months of Yemen-based reporting done by The Intercept on these atrocities].
If one wants to spout the Kissingerian “realist” view
that only U.S. interests matter and human rights abuses are irrelevant, then
fine: one can make that argument cogently and honestly if amorally. But to take
seriously U.S. rhetoric on human rights abuses and freedom – we’re going to
war against or otherwise sternly opposing these monstrous human-rights abusers
– is totally mystifying in light of U.S. actions. The next time you’re
tempted to do that, just read what U.S. officials, in their rare, candid
moments, themselves say about how they cynically concoct and exploit human
rights concerns.
Aside from accuracy for its own sake, this most
matters because of what it means for proposed American “humanitarian wars.”
Even if you accept the extremely dubious proposition that the U.S. could
manipulate political outcomes for the better with bombs and military force in
complex, far-away countries, it utterly lacks the desire, the will,
to do that; it wants only to ensure those outcomes serve its interests, which
more often than not means supporting despotism or, at best, chaos and disorder.
That’s why the feigned U.S. concern for
humanitarianism in Libya – we are so very eager to protect the Libyan People
from abuse and tyranny and bring them freedom – extended only to dropping
bombs on that country and completely disappeared the moment that fun, glorious
part was over. Even though it’s self-satisfying to believe your government is
some sort of crusader for human rights and freedom, it’s not asking too much to
just be as honest about U.S. exploitation of human rights concerns as this
“senior U.S. official” was when talking to The Washington Post.
C 2015 Reader Supported News
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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