The war on terror is the most blatant example of anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism, but there are other less overt and more sophisticated examples, which together contribute to the overall hysteria against Arabs and Muslims. In his State of the Union address, Bush pledged to end US dependence on Middle East oil. Bush—whose ties to oil corporations are well known—had the audacity to say, “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” and “this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.”

Much has been made in the past few weeks about Amnesty International’s (AI) use of the word “Gulag” in referring to the detention facilities at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where approximately 520 detainees from 35 countries are being held indefinitely, the vast majority without charge. General Meyers called it irresponsible. Secretary Rumsfeld called it reprehensible. Vice President Cheney said he was offended and did not take the report seriously. President Bush said it was absurd.

By promising confidentiality to the occupying and imprisoning powers the International Committee of the Red Cross monitors the fate of prisoners of war that no other organization can reach — from Guantanamo Bay’s Camp X-ray, to Abu Ghraib and even the many Israeli detention centers in occupied Palestine. Here, Rafeef Ziadah questions whether the ICRC’s monitoring efforts help prisoners or protect those who violate prisoners’ human rights.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was founded in 1863 to help the wounded and other victims of war. In the Geneva Conventions the ICRC is given exclusive rights to investigate prison conditions in war situations.