IN A RAGE OVER MUSLIM RAGE

 By Tyrus W. Cobb

 

Muslims worldwide are in a “rage” over the deployment of American forces in foreign lands. Islamic extremists are in a rage over cartoons and a crude video that lampoon a holy figure. Muslims are in a rage over lack of benefits Western societies deny them when they emigrate there, even while calling for the overthrow of these same governments. Muslim extremists blow up innocent children because they are enraged over societies that worship a God other than their own. Well, excuse me, but I’m in a rage over “Muslim rage”.

Isn’t it time for a proper accounting? Wasn’t it radical Muslim groups who kidnapped and massacred Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics? Or who took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held our diplomatic personnel hostage for months? And who blew up the Marine Barracks in Lebanon in 1983? Who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993? The US Embassies in Africa in 1998? And, of course, who on 9/11 hijacked airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center, killing more than 3,000?

If my count is correct, the last several times we have deployed American troops, it has been on behalf of Muslim countries or populations  The First Gulf War to free Kuwait, the overthrow of the hated dictator, Saddam Hussein, and driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan and then launching a 10-year effort to “rebuild that nation”? And interventions in Somalia, Kosovo, and Bosnia, where no U.S. interests were at stake, but done for the humanitarian objective of assisting Muslim peoples who were oppressed?

Do we hear a resounding cry of thanks for protecting and assisting these beleaguered populations? No, in fact, what we hear is that the U.S. is the “Great Satan”, bent on some “anti-Islamic crusade”.

I am in a rage over political leaders who deny that the Holocaust occurred, who provide support for the destruction of Israel, or pursue an “Islamic nuclear bomb”.  I am tired of so-called religious figures who preach a doctrine of hate, bigotry, and fanaticism, and who summon the faithful for a Jihad against Western civilization. I am upset with “moderate” Arab leaders who ignore the problems of Islamic extremism when such problems do not threaten their own regimes, and have encouraged the export of terror.

We hear accusations that the United States is insufficiently sympathetic to cultural differences between the Judeo-Christian West and the Islamic world. Not sympathetic to what? To a culture that imprisons women, forcing them into virtual servitude to their male masters? To political systems that venerate rule by a “theocracy” that oppresses anyone who dares speak against the regime? To fanatical religious teachings that turn children into suicide bombers and mothers into screaming maniacs shouting praise to Allah that her sons have died while blowing up innocent women and children? To places where heavily armed bands can shoot a 14-year old girl for the sin of….what….advocating for girls’ education?

Perhaps we are also guilty of suggesting that those who have labored under authoritarian regimes—Arab, Persian, African tribal, or whatever—deserve to have the right to freely choose their own political system, to be able to express views that differ from the prevailing political orthodoxy, or to allow women the freedom to pursue careers and participate openly in daily life. We are charged with trying to “export democracy”, believing that, heresy of heresies, where political freedoms exist, tolerance prevails, and compromise is possible.

If these are sins, then count me among the “guilty”. We should not apologize for our support for the concept of governing under the rule of law, rather than the absolute whim of self-anointed Mullahs. We should have no shame in preaching the virtues of a society that extols freedom of religious choice, of the right to speak freely on controversial subjects, and that deplores hatred and bigotry.

President Obama sought rapprochement with the Muslims, and I support his initiative. Speaking in Cairo, he promised mutual respect and emphasized that the U.S was not at war with Islam. He also challenged Muslims to establish elected, peaceful governments that respect their people. But what has been the response? Where are the “moderate” or secular Muslims standing up to the extremists? I guess that the New York Times’ Tom Freidman is right in observing that one of the “iron laws of the Middle East is that….extremists go all the way…. and the moderates tend to just go away”.

What then does this mean for a future U.S. policy for the region? It might mean that maybe we ought not to stay forever in these lands to attempt to achieve the improbable—regimes who respect the rule of law, women, and different religions. In fact, maybe it is time to stand back, and if the Shia wish to wage war on the Sunnis or the Arabs desire to try to eliminate the infidel Persians, or if the Muslim Brotherhood wants to go after the Iranian-oriented Hezbollah, maybe it is time for us to just step aside and let them sort that out themselves.

Maybe it’s just time for someone else to be the “world’s policeman, the arbiter of global justice, or the adjudicator of tribal and ethnic disputes. Or maybe I’m just tired of it all.

 

• Dr. Tyrus W. Cobb lives in Reno where he is generally more moderate and rational.