By Dr. Nayyer Ali

Aug 05, 2005

Is the US Oppressing the Muslims?


The assumption behind both the Jihadis and the Muslims in general who offer explanations for the bombings and killings going on around the world in the name of our religion is that it is due, at least in part, to the oppression of Muslims by the West. Does this charge hold water? Is the West, or at least America, uniquely and specially guilty of oppressing Muslims, so much so that it should be the target of terrorism until it stops?
The answer to this is not a simple yes or no. In fact the answer is both. Some American acts are wrong, while others have saved the lives of thousands of Muslims. Should not the picture be looked at as a whole?
On the negative side, US policy has supported the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza for over 40 years. It has failed to apply the Geneva Convention that makes Israeli settlements illegal. It has provided crucial military, diplomatic, and economic support to Israel. Without this support, Israel would not have been able to throttle the Palestinians chance for statehood on anything resembling equitable and fair terms.
In Afghanistan, American bombs helped the Northern Alliance to overthrow the Taliban. In the process a few hundred, perhaps a few thousand, Afghan civilians died. In Iraq the United States violently overthrew Saddam Hussein, and has kept 140,000 troops deployed there in order to stop the insurgency for the last two years. During that time, according to the “Iraq Body Count” group, about 25,000 civilians have died violently. Half of those were killed by US weapons fire, mostly during the initial war itself.
The United States has also been friendly with Muslim governments that are not democratic, such as Mubarak’s Egypt and the Saudis. Musharraf’s government falls in that group.
Put it all together, and the US could be held responsible for between 30,000 and 50,000 Muslims deaths in the last twenty years. One could also hold the US partly responsible for the rise in infant mortality in Iraq during the sanctions years, although Saddam Hussein misspent resources on weapons and palaces that could have been used to save children. Does this lead to the conclusion that Muslims should see the US as the enemy?
Before we answer that question we should develop some perspective. What has the US done on the positive side? In a military sense, it fought four wars in the 1990’s on behalf of Muslim populations. The first was the Gulf War to expel Saddam from Kuwait. I still remember many Muslims who were convinced that the US decision not to overthrow Saddam was based on a dark conspiracy. The truth, that the first President Bush was prudent and cautious, is now obvious.
The second was the deployment of US forces in Somalia to bring an end to a horrible man-made famine and restore a functioning Somali state. That ended when Clinton was unwilling to take casualties.
The third was the intervention in Bosnia. That was done without UN approval (the Russians would have vetoed), and was an exercise in naked unilateral American power. Muslims cheered it on, and only regretted that it took two years to occur.
The final was the war in Kosovo to reverse the Serb ethnic cleansing of a million Kosovar Albanians. There was no US interest in that southern region of Serbia. It was purely a moral intervention, and again it was unilateral and without UN approval.
Even in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ledger is not bad. In Afghanistan, over two million refugees have returned home. Primary schools have record enrollment, universities are open again, banks and businesses have been restarted, Kabul is prospering, and the vast majority of the country is finally at peace after 25 years of war. For the average Afghan, life has certainly gotten much better.
In Iraq, the war was pursued on flimsy and morally dubious grounds, and has achieved very little that advances American interests. But Iraqis themselves could never have gotten rid of Saddam. Even his death would only have brought his demented sons to power. For the first time since decolonization, the majority of Iraqis actually have a government they support. The President of Iraq is a Kurd, and the Prime Minister a Shia who was not the choice of the United States (the US wanted Iyad Allawi to win the election). The vast majority of civilian deaths in Iraq today are due to the suicide bombers themselves, as they wage their attacks on innocent civilian targets. If they really want to help the Iraqis, they could start by not killing them. Just recently they assassinated Sunnis who were representing the Sunni community on the panel that is drafting Iraq’s constitution. A US withdrawal from Iraq at this point would lead to unbelievable mayhem and civil war.
One should also note the positive effect of US foreign aid which is active in many Muslim countries. Donated American wheat fed much of Afghanistan during the mismanagement of the Taliban in the late 1990’s. Donated vaccines make a huge difference in the lives of millions of Muslim children. America’s open trade system makes it the largest export market for many Muslim countries, and it is also the largest source of foreign direct investment for many Muslim nations.
US policy is not perfect. There is much to criticize. No single act would do more to deflate the Jihadi menace than creating a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the withdrawal of all Israeli settlements. The US has the power to make that happen, and it should use it.
But the US, or Britain, or the West in general, does not deserve this wave of terror. On balance, the US has saved and improved the lives of millions of Muslims. There are many Muslim states that have done much worse. Comments can reach me at Nali@socal.rr.com.

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