Here at Irregular Times, we have been strongly critical of the radical violence and threats of violence made by radical Muslims in response to a few cartoons of Muhammed published in a Danish newspaper. However, we have also noted that many others do not feel that we are going far enough. Many others, including some people who have left comments here at Irregular Times, believe that the outrage in the Muslim world should be used as a pretext to expand the current War on Terror, so that the enemy becomes the entire Muslim world itself. Some of these people seem to even be hoping for such an expanded war against Islam, declaring that the anti-cartoon riots show that Muslims can only be dealt with through bombs and bullets.
Update: Last night we received one such message that read,
“Why put our lives in jeopardy at all… It’s just these muslim extreamist, all they know is
to kill, kill, kill. They dont listen to reason there’s no such thing as freedom of speech
with these muslims. They dont know any better! They are neanderthals or barbarians if you will.
I honestly hope things do escalate so that yet again America, Great Britain, Australia all the
countries with logic, democracy, freedom of speech & not just a place where U need an AK-47 to walk around the streets. Please continue what your doing you muslims.
You’ll get what’s coming for you’s one way or another.”
This overreaction from the American right wing is beginning to concern me as much as the overreaction from radical Islam. The hand of people like Bush advisor General Boykin, who describes the current war as part of a a sacred battle of Christianity against satanic Islam itself, seems to be growing stronger within the Republican Party. Left unchecked, this American Christian Jihad could lead our nation into an out of control global religious war.
It will benefit us now, after our sharp condemnations of this week’s ridiculous Muslim anti-cartoon violence, to step back from the fray and understand what has led to the outbreak of violent reaction in the Muslim world. There are those in the right wing who want us to believe that there is no explanation behind the riots in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere – no explanation other than that Islam is an evil religion that seeks destruction for the sake of destruction. We cannot allow this superficial non-explanation to lead us deeper into war, for a war fought without proper understanding of its foes is bound to end in disaster.
I want you to remember how it was in America in the weeks just after September 11, 2001. Many Americans, including some prominent media figures, were so angry that they called for nuclear weapons to be dropped on major Muslim cities. They called for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Muslims. They demanded vengeance.
Now, imagine how Americans would have felt if the terrorist attacks had continued. Imagine how the infuriated the American public would have become if 50 such attacks had taken place against the United States over space of the next two years.
Understand the scope of that reaction, and you will understand the fury in the Islamic world that has led to violent demonstrations against the West.
In the first two years of the Iraq War, it is likely that well over 100,000 Iraqi civilians died as a result of the American invasion and occupation. That was the finding of a study led by American Les Roberts, who risked his life to be smuggled into Iraq and travel through the country without armed protection so that the world could have an accurate accounting of civilian casualties in the war. Les Roberts is now running for Congress against a pro-war Republican, so that the United States Congress can have a more realistic understanding of the consequences of war.
Consider that number of Iraqi civilian deaths. It’s around 50 times the number of Americans that were killed on September 11, 2001.
The riots and protests around the Muslim world are in response to a few cartoons, but they are not really about the cartoons. They’re about the ongoing barrage of attacks against Islamic nations by the United States and its Western allies over the last few years.
That’s not a justification. It is, however, an explanation. It is also a warning.
The Bush Administration has centered its foreign policy around a single, flawed idea: That people will become more reasonable the more they are attacked. The overreaction of Islamic fundamentalists to a few cartoons this week demonstrates the absurdity of the idea.
War does not pacify people. War does not make people easier to deal with. War makes peaceful people into angry people. War makes angry people into radical people. War makes radical people into violent people. War puts violent people at the center of power.
People are at their most irrational when they feel under attack. That applies to Americans who launch preemptive wars as much as to Muslims on the march against cartoons.
Every bomb America drops on Iraq is another log tossed onto the bonfires of hate in the Muslim world. If we want Islamic radicalism to stop its silly protests against drawings, and violent attacks against Westerners, the solution is clear. Deprive Islamic fanaticism of fuel, and it will burn out and die of its own accord.
I agree with that, especially the last six paragraphs.
HareTrinity, I would agree with the ideas expressed in this article,except for a few points. The first one is the fact that people in some parts of the world have a much longer historical view and, consequently, much deeper hatreds rooted in their psyche…a case in point would be the ethnic hatred that exists in the former Yugoslavia, a hate that is almost imcomprehensible to other nations whose historical memory only goes back 50-100 years. The differences between the Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, and Macedonians go back over a millenium or longer. Same with many in the Islamic world. To be sure, matters weren’t helped by our invasion of Iraq, or, for that matter, in any other part of that world. One could point to the fact that Osama bin Laden’s orginazation attacking the US was in retaliation for our presence in what many regard as a “Holy land”. Or, for that matter, one USGeneral (a fundamentalist christian, at that) referring to our role in the mid-east as a “crusade”, another hot-button word over there. True, violence begets violence. However, the pre-existing ethnic/religious hatred existed long before this ever happened. We didn’t start the war. God knows, you won’t find anyone who hates War as much as one who has had to fight in one, as I have. But, I, and most Americans, refuse to take all the heat for this. We, as a people, have a long history of listening to the grieviences of others, and coming to an amicable solution that benefits all. We have come to the aid of people around the world, even when the week before, our flag had been burned by their citizens. But when people attack us, they do so at their peril. And, before you say it, I too disagree with our being in Iraq. And as an American, I’m working within our system to get rid of the regime that got us there.
Absolutely, Peregrin.
This is not just about a cartoon. It’s about a flashpoint in a powderkeg American policy has had a role in creating. Did we really expect respect and restraint to grow out of the war in Iraq, or the sanctions that came before, or the Gulf War that came before that, or the support for Saddam that came before that?
Where do the Arabs get the idea that if someone says something they don’t like, they have the right to violence? Gee, maybe from the repressive regimes we’ve helped prop up in their countries so we could suck oil out of the ground and just pay a small elite?
Americans have a lot of balls expecting people to respect the very democratic principles we’ve had a hand in suppressing for so long back in their countries.
Conversely, for all you Osama bin Laden fans out there, did you really think blasting a huge scar into New York City was going to win you points in the western world? Bin Laden WANTED the Iraq war to happen. He knew very well that Bush would start a war in the Middle East in response to the 9/11 attacks, and he knew very well that many more Muslims would die in that war than Americans. Bin Laden knew Bush was a stupid cowboy who would retaliate and kill thousands, tens of thousands of Muslims–he threw all those Muslim lives away, yet you uphold him as a champion of Islam? Give me a break!
So much for the idea that wars, insults, threats and provocation promote respect for human rights.
I really was upset about the cartoons. Why make such cartoons when they are infactual and false?
If people really read about the prophet peace be upon him they would realise he was a mercy to mankind.
Moreover, as Muslims we aren’t allowed to draw pictures of Prophets, furthermore, we aren’t meant to disrespect someone elses religion. We respect all prophets, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, so why not respect our dear Prophet?
Well, those all are handily prophets of YOUR religion, as I’m sure you know. Do you follow the dictates of Confucius? Do you follow the strict dictates of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon? Following the dictates of Islam is what you mean by “respect” in this instance.
be,
We’re under no obligation to respect your dear prophet because we’re not part of your religion. Your prophet is your problem.
When you’re a part of a larger society – in Europe or in America – where freedom is a civic and legal value, you are under an obligation to respect others’ rights.
I respect your right to ask that people respect your prophets, but I ask that you respect my right to NOT respect your prophets. I don’t have respect for Moses, Abraham, Jesus or Mohammed, because I’m not part of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim group of religions.
When Muslims start demanding that other people’s free speech be restricted just in order to give comfort to their religion, they are inviting the creation of more mocking cartoons. The way to earn respect is to show respect – not to go off marching in the streets carrying signs saying “Butcher those who mock Islam”.
Mike,
I’m aware that some cultures have a hatred of others historically (Greece and Turkey, Japan and China), and that when these are allowed to go into play it blows things out of proportion very quickly.
The US too seems to have some inbuilt hatreds circling, and that too was scapegoated in the same way Bush scapegoated some of the more extremist views in Afghanistan as being the ONLY reason they attacked.
The attack on the US was stupid and cruel, but all the terrorists had to do was to get people to ignore that until the US retaliated and seemingly proved them right. It’s really quite depressing how easily things can be twisted around when you’re dealing with scared or upset people.