September 11, Crisis Resolution

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"Civilizational Impact of the Abu Ghraib Images"

Dennis Sandole
Prof. of Conflict Resolution and International Relations and Fulbright Visiting Professor of International Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vienna

Financial Times, May 12, 2004

From Dr Dennis J D. Sandole.

Sir, Nothing could have been more destined to lose the Iraqi war for the US than the images -- with promises of more horrific ones still to come -- from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and we have only to read Roula Khalaf's article ("A tragic loss of Arab dignity laid bare in pictures", May 8-9) to understand why.

It is a further tragedy of the Iraqi misadventure that the architects of the virulently and dangerously simple-minded US policy in the region have little appreciation for the culturally nuanced and embedded symbolism of images which "remind Arabs that they are a nation without dignity".

Khalaf's conclusion that the "US symbolises a total identification with Israel and a degrading of Arab dignity and people feel the injustice but can do nothing about it", suggests that, as in Vietnam, the US will win battles (in Falluja and Najaf) but lose the "war on terror" as well as the war in Iraq.