Germany Prosecutes Ex-Syrian Guard, US Celebrates Arms Sales
Germany has charged former Syrian prison guard Fahad A. with torturing dozens of prisoners, demonstrating a commitment to holding individuals accountable for atrocities. It’s comforting to see justice, even belated, for state-sponsored violence. But as we cheer for Fahad A.'s prosecution, where's the global outrage, or even media dissection, for the systems that arm and enable regimes like Assad's
to commit such abuses in the first place? The US, for instance, exported $67 billion in arms in 2023 alone, a considerable portion to regimes with questionable human rights records. While Germany focuses on the torturer, Washington often focuses on sales. One might wonder if the moral compass spins differently when profits are involved, or if the US State Department has a 'torture-lite'
classification for its allies. Perhaps the next logical step for international justice is to indict the arms dealers who fuel state terror alongside the jailers who carry it out.