Posted on 05/10/2004 12:35:44 PM PDT by BunnySlippers
Nobel Winner Criticizes US Invasion of Iraq, Prison Abuse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP)--In much of the world's view, the U.S. has replaced the former Soviet Union as the global bully by its invasion of Iraq and mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said Monday.
Ebadi, the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, was unequivocal that the U.S. should withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately and let the Iraqis rule themselves.
"I believe this wasn't a justified war to begin with," Ebadi said in an interview with The Associated Press before the start of a visit hosted by Syracuse University's College of Law.
"In the U.S.," she said, "it is often proclaimed that democracy is the ultimate value. I understand democracy to be the people's right to decide their own government. I would like to ask the U.S. government whether democracy is only good for Americans?
"You can't liberate people through the use of an occupying force," said Ebadi, whose appearance in Syracuse was the start of a speaking tour on U.S. campuses.
The Nobel award committee honored Ebadi for her advocacy of human rights and democracy in her homeland. Now an author and professor at the University of Tehran, she was recently included on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people.
The 57-year-old Ebadi served as one of Iran's first female judges from 1975 until 1979, when she was forced to relinquish her position following the 1979 revolution that put more hardline Islamic forces in power.
The founder and leader of the Association for Support of Children's Rights in Iran, Ebadi has been the target of assassination attempts and spent time in prison. She has fought with conservative Muslim clerics over rights for women and children and has used her status as a lawyer to call for freedom of speech and equality under the law.
Ebadi criticized both the U.S. government and military for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison that have drawn world outrage.
"I don't think the U.S. military has lost control, and yet if the U.S. really wanted, it could have prevented these abuses. I'm very sorry there wasn't a deeper commitment to preventing these atrocities," she said.
The Nobel laureate said President George W. Bush and the U.S. military had severely damaged the country's reputation abroad as a defender of human rights.
During her visit to the U.S., Ebadi will visit several other universities including Harvard and Stanford. She will speak at the U.N. later this month.
One's thesis can lead one to counterintuitive conclusions.
After the bitter memories of the Iran/Iraq war, who can blame her?
Remember that it was during the Iran-Iraq war that his government sponsored terrorism throughout the globe:providing funds, military training and religious guidance for Hezbollah, Amal and other Shiite militias waging war in Lebanon.
I don't disagree. I'm firmly of the "plague on both your houses" camp with respect to Iraq, past and present, and the Iran of the mullahs. I was just trying to think like a Nobel prize winner who might have hometown bias.
I wonder if she cares about the savagery and carnage Iraq would be filled with if there was no structure to handle grievances when we up and left? Even most Iraqis don't want us to leave immediately - eventually, yes, but not immediately.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.