People around the world have been shocked in the past two months when they saw photographs of naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners being sexually humiliated by American soldiers, which have sparked anger worldwide, especially in the Arab world.  

The scandal has not only severely undermined the image of the United States, which often boasts itself as a "world leader," but also exposed its "double standard" in dealing with freedom, democracy and human rights issues.

Wanton acts under mask of freedom

Lynndie England, 21, is one of the seven US Army reservists charged with inhumanely treating detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad.

In one photograph, the female private first class was seen holding a leash attached to an Iraqi's neck and in another she was shown smiling with a cigarette dangling from her mouth as she gave the thumbs-up to a naked and hooded Iraqi man.

Other photos showed that Iraqi inmates were kept naked, sprawling on top of each other, forced to wear hoods over their heads, beaten by American jailers and photographed in humiliating poses.

Those who viewed the photos said the pictures were disgusting and it was hard to believe that this was actually taking place in a US-controlled facility.

The pictures outraged the world community and caused uproar in the United States. The US senate said in a resolution that it "condemns in the strongest possible terms the despicable acts at Abu Ghraib prison and joins with the president in expressing apology for the humiliation suffered by the prisoners in Iraq and their families."

Last year, the US-led coalition forces toppled former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by a military operation code-named "Iraqi Freedom."

However, Iraqis now might be more clearly aware of the "double standard" of freedom flaunted by the United States: Americans are born with freedom, but people in other countries could not enjoy as much freedom as Americans; the United States can do whatever it wants in any part of the world, while others have to pay for its unjust acts.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, accused US President George W. Bush of presiding over "America's steepest and deepest fall from grace in the history of our country."

The United States has become "the most hated nation in the world as a result of this disastrous policy in the prisons," he said.

US soldiers' mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners only triggered more hatred and retaliatory acts. Mired in a rebellious Iraq, the US-led coalition is doomed to face an increasingly tougher situation.

Tyranny under mask of democracy

Without an effective legal system, democracy could be easily hijacked by those who have vicious ambitions.

US soldiers in Iraq performed what is on the contrary to democracy. The way they conducted interrogations not only humiliated the Iraqi prisoners and their families, but also breached the Geneva Convention.

In the United States, suspects are allowed to require the presence of lawyers during inquiry and nobody could be convicted unless a series of legal procedures are completed, including court hearing, defense and even the grand jury giving a verdict.

However, the Bush administration, which always criticizes the "undemocratic" acts of this or that government, has made it public that it would neither recognize the International Criminal Court nor consider ratifying the protocols of the court.

One key principle of democracy is that everyone has the right to express himself. However, the Iraqi people are deprived of such a right by the US government.

At a time when a number of governments expressed their opposition to the Iraqi war and anti-war demonstrations rolled out across the world, the United States bypassed the United Nations and unilaterally ran into war with Saddam Hussein's regime.

Looking into the prisoner abuse scandal and Bush's Greater Middle East Initiative, how can Arab states not cast doubt on the so-called democracy flaunted by the United States?

Power politics under mask of human rights

People would never forget what has happened at Abu Ghraib prison and what the United States has done to human rights.

Boasting itself as the guardian of freedom, democracy and human rights, the United States releases a report every year on human rights practice of more than 100 countries worldwide, and wantonly lashes out at human rights records in other countries, irrespective of differences in politics, economy, history, culture and social development.

Human rights violation by Saddam's regime was used by the Bush administration as one of the justifications to invade Iraq. But the prisoner abuse by US troops, a tip of the iceberg of human rights violation by the United States, revealed the true face of the super power.

Although President Bush has argued the abuse was the work of a handful of US soldiers, media reports have shown that the inhumane acts are rampant not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

According to Britain's Independent newspaper, the US-led war in Iraq has claimed 16,000 lives of the Iraqi people, among them 10,000 civilians.

Since the 1990s, the United States has resorted to use of force more than 40 times worldwide, bringing tragedy to countless people.

In face of the abuse scandal, would the United States continue boasting itself as the "human rights defender" or "human rights judge"? -- Washington had better resolve its own human rights problems first.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2004)