The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, ex-Professor of Neurology at MIT reminds me of an article by George Bernard Shaw or his comments contained in the prologue of one of his books such as Man and Superman or Pygmalion or some other that I read in the early seventies. In it Shaw had lambasted the British Army over the trial of an Egyptian peasant woman who was charged with attempting to kill British soldiers. The woman had wounds in her private parts which were certified by the army surgeon as bullet injuries suffered during gun battle with the Royal Army. All the evidence presented by the army was discussed and exposed to be as ridiculous as it really was by Shaw. Unfortunately, there is no G.B. Shaw in USA of today and the moral standards of the US army can hardly be considered superior to their ancestors. The fact is that the standards of soldiery have been constantly on the decline and the motivation has shifted to terror, sadism and greed from the old concepts or honor and chivalry. It seem to be one of the many cases where the army men connived to avoid court martial and put their victim on trial in a questionable court whose jury were locked in a room for days and not allowed to come out until they gave a unanimous verdict of guilty on all concocted and unsustainable charges.
The US government, perhaps acting on Indian advice has made a serious mistake. The young people in the Muslim world are wondering that if someone as learned as Dr. Aafia supports Al-Qaida, it couldn't be so bad after all. There are others who are wondering that if the Americans can so badly brutalize a lady who for years worked and contributed to a humanitarian science in their country and ruin the life of her young children, what humanity can anyone expect from them?
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