Recently, two Iranian journalists were arrested and incarcerated in Iraq by American troops for their alleged 'security violations'. A few days ago, an Al-Jazeera cameraman was arrested and held for two days; and when he went on hunger strike and his TV channel lodged a strong protest, he was released, but his film was confiscated. Apparently, he had filmed an attack on US troops.

Indeed, Al-Jazeera has come in for some rough treatment at American hands: its offices in Kabul and Baghdad were hit with remarkable precision for supposedly 'accidental' targeting. The bureau chief in Baghdad was killed in the attack. While it is true that the Americans also killed western journalists in Baghdad, it is difficult to believe they would have carried out such a sustained campaign against, say, the BBC or AFP. Indeed, American annoyance with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera has reached such a pitch that officials in Washington have accused the channel of encouraging attacks against their occupying forces in Iraq - a charge Al-Jazeera has strongly denied.

While the infamous Camp X-Ray at Guantanomo Bay has been much in world focus because of the clear illegality involved in detaining hundreds of suspects for nearly two years without trial or charges, more has been coming to light about a similar facility in Iraq called Camp Cropper. Here, over 2,000 Iraqis, ranging from top Ba'ath Party members to common criminals, have been incarcerated in sub-human conditions. Very few of their relatives know where they are; and Amnesty International was recently denied entry to the camp, and for understandable reason: the prisoners are being kept in huge canvas tents in searing temperatures and given very limited water supplies. Their food consists of US army MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), and inmates suspect pork is included in these rations.

The intrepid Robert Fisk of the Independent has written about Qais al-Salman, a Danish citizen of Iraqi origin, who returned to his home country after Saddam Hussein's fall to help in its reconstruction. On 6 June, al-Salman's car was riddled with bullets by American troops and he was dragged off to Camp Cropper where, despite producing his credentials, he was imprisoned. No water was given to wash in. When he went on hunger strike, he was driven to Baghdad and released after over a month in prison. According to Fisk's (western) source, selected prisoners are beaten up during interrogation at the camp.Conditions might be slightly better at Camp X-Ray, but the prospect of military trials now haunts the inmates. According to the procedure announced thus far, prisoners will not be able to choose their lawyers who will be appointed by the US army; the accused will not have access to the documents and details of the charges they are facing; appeals will only be heard by a military review board; and even if miraculously somebody is declared 'not guilty', there is no guarantee that he will be released. Had another country set up such a draconian and blatantly loaded legal process, the Americans would have been the first to denounce them as kangaroo courts.

But over and beyond the legality of holding hundreds of people without charges in sub-human conditions are two factors the two camps have in common: those being held are Muslim and non-white. Without wishing to sound defensive, I don't think those who have read my columns will accuse me of either paranoia or blind anti-western sentiments. Indeed, I have incurred the ire of many readers who feel I am too liberal and secular in my views. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I expressed my strong sympathy with the Americans, and justified their attack on the Taliban. And while I opposed the war on Iraq as I doubted the existence of any 'weapons of mass destruction', I have been against Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime even when he was Washington's blue-eyed boy for years.

Having got this out of the way, let me say bluntly that there is no way the Americans would have treated the inmates of Camps X-Ray and Cropper in way they are being treated had they been white and Christian. When Walker, a white American, was discovered with Taliban forces, he was immediately flown to California, tried and sentenced under the law of the land. Had the 3,000-odd prisoners at Camps X-Ray and Cropper been Europeans, there would have been such a hue and cry over the conditions of their incarceration that even in a unipolar world, the gaoler would have had to relent.

A problem few Americans are willing to recognize is that 9/11 and the subsequent Patriot Act have given people a licence to release their innate racism. American GIs, sweltering in the Iraqi summer and frustrated at being stuck in a hostile land, take it out on the 'rag-heads' by cutting loose with their AR-15s whenever they feel even slightly threatened. They don't behave this way in Serbia. In America itself, immigration officials avenge themselves for 9/11 by pushing Muslim travellers around.

This is not to say that America is alone in its racist attitudes. We all harbour secret and occasionally open hatred against the 'outsider' who we blame for our troubles. Or if we don't, it's nice to have somebody who is even lower in the pecking order to kick around. In Japan, the children of Koreans who settled there decades ago are still despised.In China, the word for 'foreigner' is the same as the one for 'barbarian'. In Russia, Africans are regularly taunted and beaten up; several African diplomats have complained of overt racism. In Pakistan, we referred to Bengalis as Bingos and treated East Pakistan as a colony; even now our treatment of women and the minorities is a disgrace. India's caste system continues to blight its stature as the world's biggest democracy.

In truth, no society is without its problems of race or caste. The problem arises when a country legislates to legalize these prejudices. America can be proud of its liberal record on pro-black legislation over the last fifty years. This half-century has seen remarkable social and economic progress by Afro-Americans that was made possible by consistent legislation. This same period has seen millions of people from across the globe entering America to make better lives for themselves and their children, while enriching their host country at the same time.

In short, America's openness and fairness have been a beacon to the world. It would be a pity if all these enormous gains were squandered because of 9/11. If this does happen, Osama bin Laden will surely have won.