The Open Society Justice Initiative’s (OSJI) 213-page report into the CIA’s global rendition program has revealed that nearly a quarter of the world’s governments were involved in the covert movement, detention and subsequent torture of dozens of people during the post 9/11 ‘War on Terror’.  It has become clear that without the co-operation of the global community the US would have been unable to carry out its rendition program, making all those involved complicit.  It has always been known that other countries were involved as the American sub-contracted the torture to countries such as Syria, Libya and Uzbekistan as was shown by the case of the Libyan ‪Abdelhakim Belhadj sent to be tortured by the then friend of the west, Gadhafi himself. Belhadj was later instrumental in helping to overthrow Gadhafi, an action hailed by the very people who had him tortured years earlier.

The reports findings that over 50 countries were involved in the rendition program highlights not only the hypocrisy of the Americans but also the global community and the role of international law and order in resolving global issues. The list of countries involved includes Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria , Canada, Poland, Lithuania and Romania. Those nations who don’t make the list are all too complicit by their silence.

Time and again international governments rally together to be judge, jury and executioner when it comes to global issues, all too often involving the Muslim world. Sanctions on Iran, the invasion of Mali, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan all have had the tacit backing of the world’s governments. The narrative is clear that foreign policy decisions enacted by the global powers have the moral backing of the world, allowing the Americans to go around acting as the world’s policeman an image that America works very hard to maintain.

This myth of being the good guys is slowing being eroded as the OSJI report states:

“Despite the efforts of the United States and its partner governments to withhold the truth about past and ongoing abuses, information relating to these abuses will continue to find its way into the public domain,”

In truth the United States runs what is akin to an organised mafia cartel that goes around the globe for nothing more than colonial and economic interests. The talk of human rights, international law and organisations such as the International Criminal Court are just a smoke screen to fool the world. On the one hand the West pushes for freedom , democracy and the implementation of their ideology in the Muslim world, whilst on the other they use this same ideology to render innocent individuals for torture. Anyone daring to question this narrative is condemned for hating and wanting to destroy the west’s way of life.

As Noam Chomsky quite aptly states:

“Take the US invasion of Iraq, for example. To everyone except a dedicated ideologue, it was pretty obvious that we invaded Iraq not because of our love of democracy but because it’s maybe the second- or third-largest source of oil in the world, and is right in the middle of the major energy-producing region. You’re not supposed to say this. It’s considered a conspiracy theory.”

It is no surprise that governments of the Muslim world  such as Syria, Pakistan and Jordon are mentioned in the report by the OSJI, the Ummah has known for decades their rulers are nothing more than slaves of Western imperialism. The Arab Spring has shown the Ummah’s desire to remove the regimes implanted in their midst by the colonial nations to do their dirty work, however the Ummah must also remove something more dangerous than these regimes. That is the mindset that Western values and systems can bring them anything other than a continuation of their misery.

Freedom and liberty the buzz words of Western foreign policy may sound appealing, but the Ummah needs to look beyond the sound bites and media spin to the actions of the nations that promote an ideology. An ideology which has no qualms about moving Muslims around the world like cattle being sent to the slaughter. There is scant regard for life and human dignity, the kind of secret network that has been exposed is reminiscent of the regimes of Bashar al-Assad, Hosni Mubarak , Colonel Gadhafi not something the Muslim world can take much inspiration from.