War, Terrorism, and Human Rights: The Lessons of September 11

Professor Makau Mutua, Chair, KHRC
Dr. Willy Mutunga, Executive Director, KHRC

On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, most of the world led by the United States will fittingly remember the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. While we at the Kenya Human Rights Commission join the international community in this sorrowful remembrance and mourn for the victims, their families, and loved ones we take this opportunity to call for the respect of the international rule of law, human rights, fairness, and an honest reflection by all states, especially the United States, in its war on terror. We were horrified by the wanton destruction of life and property visited on New York City and Washington DC by last September's suicide attacks. We in east Africa are no strangers to the acute suffering and agony of such attacks. The August 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-salaam killed hundreds and injured thousands. While we seek justice against the perpetrators of these horrible attacks, we must never waver in our resolve to respect the rights of suspects. We must never be vengeful or target entire communities or faiths in pursuit of justice. This, we believe, is a lesson that the Bush Administration has missed.

Since the attacks of last September, the United States has pursued domestic and foreign policies that imperil civil liberties and human rights at home and abroad. While the United States has a responsibility to protect its citizens and those who live within its borders, it must do so humanely and within the law. The promulgation of laws to establish military tribunals to try individuals designated as terrorists violate both American and international law, and set a terrible example to countries elsewhere. Policies and official pronouncements that target Muslims and Arab-Americans in the United States violate fundamental human rights. The passage of laws limiting the rights of suspects and their lawyers undermines the foundation of American democracy and invites dictatorships elsewhere to crush their dissenters. As the lone superpower, the United States has both a moral and legal obligation to set a better example.

We express deep reservations in the manner in which the United States has prosecuted its war against terror in Afghanistan. There have been far too many reports of needless civilian casualties. To our knowledge, no one has been held accountable for these killings. We think that such events only help to engender anti-American sentiments, and are therefore counter-productive. We think that the Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners held by the US at its base in Cuba should be accorded POW status and treated accordingly. We believe that such steps would indicate that the US was acting in good faith in its war against terror.

We do not think that there has been an honest, deep, and open debate and reflection in the United States about the motivations and implications of the September suicide attacks. Instead, the question, "why they hate us?," has been turned into a drumbeat for suppressing civil liberties and violating human rights abroad. We challenge the American human rights and civil rights movements to lead the nation in seeking answers to the attacks, and looking at US policies abroad as one possible arena for reform to alleviate the alienation and grievances that other cultures and countries hold against the United States. We do not believe that the September 11 attacks reveal a neat "good versus evil" dichotomy. Real dialogue between cultures, religions, the rich and the poor, and the North and the South is the only sure way to resolve the demons that unleashed September 11.

We add our modest voice to those opposed to a US military action against Iraq. Since the American-led Gulf War a decade ago, Iraq has been turned into a living hell. United Nations sanctions have crippled the country. Tens of thousands of children have perished of preventable diseases because of lack of medicine and medical equipment. It is the common people of Iraq, and not President Saddam Hussein and his cronies who have borne the brunt of the suffering wrought by sanctions. Any attempt to overthrow the Iraqi regime would lead to national disintegration, prolonged civil strife, and untold suffering by women, children, and the infirm. The warpath must be abandoned. Otherwise it will lead to more suffering and a coalescence of the belief that the United States is bent on the destruction of the Arab nation. Instead, we believe that US efforts ought to be focused on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict -- ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine, stopping the killings on both sides, and establishing a sovereign Palestinian state, with security guarantees for Israel.

There was an outpouring of support for the American victims and families affected by the September 11 attacks. Even a Maasai village community in Kenya presented the Americans with cattle, as a token of its solidarity with the victims. It was a touching gesture. We feel that neither the Clinton, nor the Bush, administration has done enough to assist Kenyan victims and the families of the 1998 Nairobi embassy bombing. While the United States has rightly set up a fund for the victims and families affected by September 11, it should extend some of that caring to victims of the embassy bombing. This would go a long way in alleviating their pain and suffering. It would also show that Americans do not just care about their own victims, but all those others who, in effect, "have taken a bullet for Uncle Sam." On this first anniversary of the September 11 attacks, we want to remember the victims and their families, but also to underscore the obligations of states, particularly the United States, to lead by showing respect for the international rule of law and human rights. We urge and call upon the Bush administration to pull back from its confrontation with Iraq. We believe that only a balanced, internationally inclusive approach, devoid of unilateralism, can alleviate the hatreds and violations that continue to characterize our world today. Otherwise, the law of the jungle will make losers of all of us.