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.
