The dangers of excessive force and unfair detention being used in the roundup and detention of suspects in the US-led globalized “War Against Terror” have long been apparent. Since 9/11, thousands of suspected terrorists have been arrested and held for questioning around the world, both by the US and a number of foreign governments. Many of these were arrested in Afghanistan and flown to Guantanamo Bay where they were treated like caged animals, even though many later turned out to be innocent. Likewise, governments from Indonesia, the Philippines, France, Spain and Kenya, have all arrested hundreds of suspects and subjected them to long periods of imprisonment, often holding them incommunicado, before trying and convicting them.
This curtailment of civil rights that is happening in the name of bringing stability and safety to our world is now in danger of alienating moderate Muslims everywhere, the very same people who should have been the first recruited to help in the fight against terrorist networks. As one participant at a recently held counterterror conference in Manila said, “We should not create terrorists in our response to terrorism.” The conference urged countries with active Muslim insurgencies, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, to recruit the help of moderate Islamic imams in order to solve their problems with militants.
The unfortunate pictures of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay have served to alienate not only militants who already hated America but also some of the moderates who felt their past admiration of America rapidly turn to mistrust and disgust. The conference participants agreed that a combination of hard and soft approaches should be used in confronting terrorism, while at the same time showing respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Muslim countries themselves are very often to blame for allowing extremists to spread their message of hate. These states must make greater efforts to combat these knee-jerk prejudices, and try to build real interfaith dialogue instead of just talking about it.
The Manila conference participants agreed that terrorism should not be linked to any religion. That is good in theory, but the stark reality of today is that more often than not, terrorism, in the minds of non-Muslims, is automatically linked to Muslims. Moderate Muslims are certainly partly to blame for this sad situation by allowing the public face of their religion to be hijacked by extremists. They must seize the advantage once again by preaching the beauty and fair-mindedness of Islam, and encouraging a dialogue with non-Muslims based on mutual respect.
Those in charge of the “War on Terror” must, on their part, make sure that the human rights of detainees are not violated. Suspects should not be held for weeks on end without being charged or released; instead they should be treated with dignity and be given access to lawyers. Only then will moderate Muslims, who are keys in this fight, be convinced that the “War on Terror” is not a disguise for an orchestrated clash of civilizations.
