As Libyan and American authorities continue
to try to decipher the exact happenings of the night of the 11th in Benghazi,
there are some facts which do not need much elaboration to figure out.
The first is that whoever produced the film "Desert
Warrior", a supposed Sam Bassiel (or Bassil or Bacile) as well as his
financial backers who are still to be determined, quite frankly fall into a
category of people which the English language fails to fully encapsulate their
ignorance-generated hate. The people behind the movie that sparked the events
in Arab world this week are truly some
of the worst sorts of people that society can offer; not only are their claims
of Islam's messenger wholly wrong and grossly offensive to anyone, let alone
Muslims of faith, but they “cunningly” prove their point by hoping to incite
anger and more importantly violence in the exact culture they are
misjudging.
This however brings me to a second realization; the
influence and reach of terrorist organizations in the Muslim world are not as
crumbling as we once thought. While we can openly judge the actions of the
film's creators to have been outrageously insensitive at best, their lack of
oversight regarding the possibility of ensuing violence is not enough
justification for those who feel angry about the defamation of their prophet to
turn to outright violence and murder in their frustration. It is foolish of us
to expect a sudden change of heart amongst Muslims regarding how closely they
covet the importance of the Muslim Prophet, but it is very much so within our
bounds to condemn violence that stems from the hate. The organized militants
know this fact, and still have the capacities to use it as fuel to achieve
their nefarious ends.
The message here is simple and unfortunately an old
one; when extremes take to fighting, the moderates suffer, often times
suffering a great deal. Those who this week lost their lives, as well as the
security forces who fought off extremists and the disengaged general public
near the fighting are those essentially caught in the middle.
The real issues here however will develop in the weeks
and months ahead as the U.S tries to put back the pieces of what has been a
rather successful tenure of foreign policy by the Obama administration. Between
reducing the power of Al-Qaeda and aiding in the Arab Spring both militarily
and diplomatically, the U.S has had a rather productive last three years
re-building relations with the Muslim world. This latest string of attacks not
only reminds us that terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda are still more than
alive and strong, but also that they are present in parts of the world where
massive changes also create massive gaps for malevolent organizations to plant
roots in and carry out their attacks.
This is not to say that Lybian and
Egyptian government forces are incapable of protecting their own sovereignty,
but it cannot go unnoticed that both territories have more issues of stability
coming out of their own respective revolutions than do nations who remained
conflict-less. That being said, it is still important to note that the
populations at hand here are willing to change their political outlook, but
their social and religious standards do not seem to have wandered far in the
same period of change. Again, this is not something to condemn, but rather
something to better understand in order to make sure that while steps forward
in international relations are important, preventing steps backwards is just as
important; that is to say that taking a more delicate approach when dealing
with specifically Muslim affairs is not a sign of weakness but a twofold sign
of diligence for the work that has already been done and a sign of respect to
many people around the globe.
It is important to remember that,
like President G.W. Bush said in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S
condemns terrorists, not Muslims. Although for some, including the makers of
the incendiary film, that differentiation is more difficult to make, it is not
excuse enough to change policies with the countries who have had lapses in
security for American diplomatic missions. Instead the best course of action
would be to basically stay the course.
Admittedly, greater efforts to
coordinate security between the host nations and the missions must be taken
into account in the coming days in order to prevent similar amounts of violence
from repeating themselves. More importantly however the U.S must continue to
make its appearance look not only appealing to the Muslim world but also
sincere. The U.S has, for better or for worse, a reputation as a nation that is
looking to sell not only its goods but also itself, making efforts to show a
new American face suspect to most abroad. These last three years have been
central to an attempt to establish a new U.S willing to treat the rest of the
world as an equal and have the effort be genuine. That is what has allowed the
more moderate Libyan and Egyptian majority obviously not under the direct
influence of Al-Qaeda come out in open support of the U.S and more importantly
show heartfelt sympathy and sorrow for those killed.
The moving of troops into the area
now will serve the purpose of imposing justice, but only that which will be
necessary. An excessive amount of time spent in the area by American forces
will only exacerbate a problem of trust with Egypt as well as entice more
conflict in Libya itself. Keen diplomacy to show commitment even through
struggle will be the best form of protection against a potentially resurgent
Al-Qaeda in this part of the world. By portraying itself as reliable and
genuine, the American message of solidarity with a changing Arab world will
naturally defuse tension and lessen the chances of violent flare-ups like this
significantly by taking the anger out of the populace and leaving violent
militants with less fuel for their fire.
This crisis has the possibility of
setting a precedent in which the U.S is capable of enacting justice when
attacked without running the risk of losing the diplomatic status quo with both
the corresponding country and its people. By remaining steadfast in its
understanding of who the real enemy is, paired with genuine comradeship with
Arab countries, the U.S should be able to continue improving relations rather
than having to backtrack years of work in mere days.
Liked what you read? Want to know when the next post is up? Then Subscribe via email (top right tab bar) or by RSS Feed.
Liked what you read? Want to know when the next post is up? Then Subscribe via email (top right tab bar) or by RSS Feed.
RSS Feed
Or join the Academy Facebook Page to stay up to date on everything Academy.
1 comment:
Good work, keep it up!
Julia
Post a Comment