Photo: VCG

US, the habitual violator of human rights. Graphic: GT

After the 9/11 terror attacks, the US embarked on a mission in the name of anti-terrorism to subvert or weaken administrations that were not pro-US or opposed the US. This created a power vacuum in these countries, leading to constant internal struggles, political instability and difficulties in maintaining security conditions. Terrorist forces not only failed to be contained, but seized the opportunity to grow bigger and spread globally.

The US government has a tradition of habitually violating other countries' sovereignty. As is known to all, the Iraq War, launched under the excuse of anti-terrorism during the George W. Bush administration, was never authorized by the UN. The US dodged the UN Security Council and unilaterally carried out military strikes against Iraq on the grounds that Iraq hid weapons of mass destruction and secretly supported terrorists. However, after more than seven years, the US never found the so-called weapons of mass destruction. Instead, Washington ended the war on the grounds that the Saddam administration had already destroyed related documents and evidence.

During the Barack Obama administration, the US led its allies to invade Libya and overthrow the Gaddafi government under the banner of NATO, but never brought peace to Libya. In the "post-Gaddafi era," various forces in Libya took the opportunity to rise, including the "Islamic State," an extremist organization which constantly threatens European countries. During an interview with Fox News on April 10, 2016, Obama admitted that the worst mistake of his presidency was a lack of planning for the aftermath of the military intervention in Libya after the toppling of Gaddafi.

After Donald Trump took office, he generally suspected Islamic countries of being "terrorists." Meanwhile, under the excuse of "anti-terrorism," he ramped up air bombings on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries, leading to regional turbulence and serious humanitarian disasters. This provided a breeding ground for terrorism. Trump also proposed the "Muslim ban," arousing opposition and accusations from the international community, the American public and media. They believed the ban seriously violated international human rights standards and the basic rights of Muslims, including freedom of religious belief and personal freedom. In addition to economic sanctions on Iran, the US has long imposed varying degrees of economic pressures on countries such as Russia, North Korea and Venezuela, cutting the link between these countries and the international financial system and interfering in their ideologies. Such unilateral sanctions are a flagrant violation of other countries' sovereignty.

The US government has a tradition of habitually violating the right to life of citizens of other countries. The US' anti-terrorism military operations often cause large numbers of civilian casualties. A research report released by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University in 2019 showed that since 2001, the US has spent more than $6.4 trillion in launching wars, and these wars have cost some 801,000 lives, including 312,000 civilian deaths. In a US drone attack in 2018 alone, at least 30 of the casualties were civilians. In addition to the civilian casualties caused by US' direct military actions, the US government also connives other countries' killing of civilians in troubled areas. All of these acts show the US' vicious acts of ignoring the right to life of people from other countries. The civilian casualties caused by the US military in its anti-terrorism military operations are not accidental, but deliberate.

Besides, the US has also arbitrarily shielded war criminals. Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said during a press conference in November 2019 that the US government pardoned three US servicemen accused of war crimes and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was highly concerned about the move. The three cases seriously violated international humanitarian law, including the shooting of civilians and the execution of captured members of armed groups. Facing the exposure and criticism from the UN, domestic US media and opposition party, the US did not produce any statement. These acts show that the US has always ignored other people's right to life. Anyone can be the US' target. For the US, the only criterion is its own national interests.

The US has also been habitually violating citizens' privacy. Various counter-terrorism plans of the US have been infringing upon citizens' right to privacy. The President's Surveillance Program launched by the US Department of Homeland Security in October 2001, known by the code name Stellar Wind, was authorized by President George W. Bush as part of the War on Terrorism. It was later transitioned into the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008. According to the confidential documents exposed by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, American intelligence has not only engaged in extensive internet and phone surveillance against anti-US forces around the globe, it also put American citizens on its soil under surveillance, tapping directly into the servers of nine internet firms, including Facebook, and Google, to track online communication in a surveillance program known as Prism.

The disclosure of the incident sparked a public uproar and prompted Obama to sign the Freedom Act on June 2, 2015 to provide a legal basis for government anti-terrorism surveillance. But the bill still gives the green light to a variety of communications monitoring. For the US' intelligence agency, it is just another way to continue infringing on the sovereignty and civil rights of other countries. This was still the case during the Trump administration. In fact, in these secret projects, the US has violated citizens' freedom of association, personal privacy, and freedom of speech, and has seriously infringed upon the sovereignty and civil rights of other countries.

The country has also engaged in habitual violation of the basic human rights of prisoners of war and criminal suspects. In 2004, media outlets' exposure of the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners by US military forces at the infamous Abu Ghraib, a prison in Iraq, shocked the world. These incidents of prisoner abuse by the US military seriously violated international human rights norms and aroused public outrage across the world. A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a mocking tone that the US has shown the world what it means to be a democratic and rule-of-law country. These shameful practices not only violate the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Torture and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also run counter to the universal value of human rights, and make the US government's image as a "defender of human rights" collapse.

Furthermore, The US has also set up secret overseas prisons, arbitrarily detained criminal suspects without trial and tortured them. According to a report by the Washington Post (WP), the CIA set up secret prisons in countries including Thailand, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and some countries in Eastern Europe, which are charged by a handful of officials of the White House, Justice Department and Congress. WP cited sources as saying that more than 100 suspected terrorists have been sent by the CIA into the covert prisons. These people were held in solitary confinement in small cells and were deprived of any legal rights. They were not allowed visits except from officials of the CIA, and the International Red Cross personnel were prohibited from contacting them.

The US itself recognized that this kind of detention without a legal basis is improper, but still chose to run the system, and then created a justification for it. Many detainees who have not been tried by due process have been detained for more than 10 years and have been subjected to torture including sleep deprivation, waterboarding, prolonged solitary confinement, violent hits on walls and beatings of prisoners on their heads, and death threats. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, appealed to the US to end a pervasive policy of impunity for crimes of torture committed by US officials. He didn't receive any response. 

Guantanamo Bay prison has been running for nearly 20 years. It's also where US detainees have been illegally detained, interrogated, and even tortured, some for the whole length of its existence. It has been 20 years in which the concept of torture prohibited by the International Human Rights Convention has been blatantly violated.

The US has habitually threatened staff of various international agencies. The US government's anti-terrorism policy is oriented toward seeking its own interests and maintaining its hegemonic position. It even goes against the principles and purposes of international law, threatens international institutions, and obstructs relevant judicial investigations and court proceedings. In September 2018 and March 2019, former US national security adviser John Bolton and former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo separately threatened to retaliate with travel bans and asset freezes against those who would have been directly responsible if the International Criminal Court investigated related personnel of the US and its allies. They even threatened to impose economic sanctions against the International Criminal Court.

All of the aforementioned examples and data are evidence that US' habitual violation of human rights has a long history in a wide and deep scope of areas, and has caused huge damages. The only long-standing criterion is whether its target touches the US' interests. Such moves are supported by US' hegemonic thinking, which has resulted in the double standards in US diplomacy: It is on one hand infringing upon other countries' human rights, while on the other hand targeting other countries under the pretense of protecting human rights.

The author is a current affairs commentator. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

Photo: VCG

US, the habitual violator of human rights. Graphic: GT

After the 9/11 terror attacks, the US embarked on a mission in the name of anti-terrorism to subvert or weaken administrations that were not pro-US or opposed the US. This created a power vacuum in these countries, leading to constant internal struggles, political instability and difficulties in maintaining security conditions. Terrorist forces not only failed to be contained, but seized the opportunity to grow bigger and spread globally.

The US government has a tradition of habitually violating other countries' sovereignty. As is known to all, the Iraq War, launched under the excuse of anti-terrorism during the George W. Bush administration, was never authorized by the UN. The US dodged the UN Security Council and unilaterally carried out military strikes against Iraq on the grounds that Iraq hid weapons of mass destruction and secretly supported terrorists. However, after more than seven years, the US never found the so-called weapons of mass destruction. Instead, Washington ended the war on the grounds that the Saddam administration had already destroyed related documents and evidence.

During the Barack Obama administration, the US led its allies to invade Libya and overthrow the Gaddafi government under the banner of NATO, but never brought peace to Libya. In the "post-Gaddafi era," various forces in Libya took the opportunity to rise, including the "Islamic State," an extremist organization which constantly threatens European countries. During an interview with Fox News on April 10, 2016, Obama admitted that the worst mistake of his presidency was a lack of planning for the aftermath of the military intervention in Libya after the toppling of Gaddafi.

After Donald Trump took office, he generally suspected Islamic countries of being "terrorists." Meanwhile, under the excuse of "anti-terrorism," he ramped up air bombings on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries, leading to regional turbulence and serious humanitarian disasters. This provided a breeding ground for terrorism. Trump also proposed the "Muslim ban," arousing opposition and accusations from the international community, the American public and media. They believed the ban seriously violated international human rights standards and the basic rights of Muslims, including freedom of religious belief and personal freedom. In addition to economic sanctions on Iran, the US has long imposed varying degrees of economic pressures on countries such as Russia, North Korea and Venezuela, cutting the link between these countries and the international financial system and interfering in their ideologies. Such unilateral sanctions are a flagrant violation of other countries' sovereignty.

The US government has a tradition of habitually violating the right to life of citizens of other countries. The US' anti-terrorism military operations often cause large numbers of civilian casualties. A research report released by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University in 2019 showed that since 2001, the US has spent more than $6.4 trillion in launching wars, and these wars have cost some 801,000 lives, including 312,000 civilian deaths. In a US drone attack in 2018 alone, at least 30 of the casualties were civilians. In addition to the civilian casualties caused by US' direct military actions, the US government also connives other countries' killing of civilians in troubled areas. All of these acts show the US' vicious acts of ignoring the right to life of people from other countries. The civilian casualties caused by the US military in its anti-terrorism military operations are not accidental, but deliberate.

Besides, the US has also arbitrarily shielded war criminals. Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said during a press conference in November 2019 that the US government pardoned three US servicemen accused of war crimes and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was highly concerned about the move. The three cases seriously violated international humanitarian law, including the shooting of civilians and the execution of captured members of armed groups. Facing the exposure and criticism from the UN, domestic US media and opposition party, the US did not produce any statement. These acts show that the US has always ignored other people's right to life. Anyone can be the US' target. For the US, the only criterion is its own national interests.

The US has also been habitually violating citizens' privacy. Various counter-terrorism plans of the US have been infringing upon citizens' right to privacy. The President's Surveillance Program launched by the US Department of Homeland Security in October 2001, known by the code name Stellar Wind, was authorized by President George W. Bush as part of the War on Terrorism. It was later transitioned into the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008. According to the confidential documents exposed by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, American intelligence has not only engaged in extensive internet and phone surveillance against anti-US forces around the globe, it also put American citizens on its soil under surveillance, tapping directly into the servers of nine internet firms, including Facebook, and Google, to track online communication in a surveillance program known as Prism.

The disclosure of the incident sparked a public uproar and prompted Obama to sign the Freedom Act on June 2, 2015 to provide a legal basis for government anti-terrorism surveillance. But the bill still gives the green light to a variety of communications monitoring. For the US' intelligence agency, it is just another way to continue infringing on the sovereignty and civil rights of other countries. This was still the case during the Trump administration. In fact, in these secret projects, the US has violated citizens' freedom of association, personal privacy, and freedom of speech, and has seriously infringed upon the sovereignty and civil rights of other countries.

The country has also engaged in habitual violation of the basic human rights of prisoners of war and criminal suspects. In 2004, media outlets' exposure of the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners by US military forces at the infamous Abu Ghraib, a prison in Iraq, shocked the world. These incidents of prisoner abuse by the US military seriously violated international human rights norms and aroused public outrage across the world. A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a mocking tone that the US has shown the world what it means to be a democratic and rule-of-law country. These shameful practices not only violate the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Torture and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also run counter to the universal value of human rights, and make the US government's image as a "defender of human rights" collapse.

Furthermore, The US has also set up secret overseas prisons, arbitrarily detained criminal suspects without trial and tortured them. According to a report by the Washington Post (WP), the CIA set up secret prisons in countries including Thailand, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and some countries in Eastern Europe, which are charged by a handful of officials of the White House, Justice Department and Congress. WP cited sources as saying that more than 100 suspected terrorists have been sent by the CIA into the covert prisons. These people were held in solitary confinement in small cells and were deprived of any legal rights. They were not allowed visits except from officials of the CIA, and the International Red Cross personnel were prohibited from contacting them.

The US itself recognized that this kind of detention without a legal basis is improper, but still chose to run the system, and then created a justification for it. Many detainees who have not been tried by due process have been detained for more than 10 years and have been subjected to torture including sleep deprivation, waterboarding, prolonged solitary confinement, violent hits on walls and beatings of prisoners on their heads, and death threats. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, appealed to the US to end a pervasive policy of impunity for crimes of torture committed by US officials. He didn't receive any response. 

Guantanamo Bay prison has been running for nearly 20 years. It's also where US detainees have been illegally detained, interrogated, and even tortured, some for the whole length of its existence. It has been 20 years in which the concept of torture prohibited by the International Human Rights Convention has been blatantly violated.

The US has habitually threatened staff of various international agencies. The US government's anti-terrorism policy is oriented toward seeking its own interests and maintaining its hegemonic position. It even goes against the principles and purposes of international law, threatens international institutions, and obstructs relevant judicial investigations and court proceedings. In September 2018 and March 2019, former US national security adviser John Bolton and former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo separately threatened to retaliate with travel bans and asset freezes against those who would have been directly responsible if the International Criminal Court investigated related personnel of the US and its allies. They even threatened to impose economic sanctions against the International Criminal Court.

All of the aforementioned examples and data are evidence that US' habitual violation of human rights has a long history in a wide and deep scope of areas, and has caused huge damages. The only long-standing criterion is whether its target touches the US' interests. Such moves are supported by US' hegemonic thinking, which has resulted in the double standards in US diplomacy: It is on one hand infringing upon other countries' human rights, while on the other hand targeting other countries under the pretense of protecting human rights.

The author is a current affairs commentator. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn