America Needs to Pass on Middle East Involvement
By: Terry Donnelly
March 2015
Here’s the problem. 1,383 years ago the Sunnis, the largest
branch of Islam, the ones who do not necessarily believe in Sharia law and can
be quite liberal, split with the Shias, the second largest group with a ton of
individual sects within their ranks, over interpretation of the Quran. They
have been fighting ever since.
Separate from those actual religious groups, but also with
Muslim members is Boko Haran a strictly terrorist movement from Nigeria, Chad,
Niger, and Cameroon–not all of each of those countries, but some of each.
Next there is al-Qaeda, the militant Islamists originally
formed by the likes of Osama bin Laden. They are multinational, or
stateless–they don’t hail from anywhere, but seem to be everywhere. They don’t
like many other Muslims, but it’s hard to tell exactly whom they dislike from
day to day other than Americans.
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic organization that is basically
military. It is banned in Jordan,
itself an Islamic state, and considered terrorist by Australia, Canada, Israel,
the UK and the US.
The Kurds have Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey as home bases.
Kurds seem to be pro America these days, but arming them could result in
problems down the road if they become radicalized or switch allegiances. A
“Fast and Furious” scenario could easily reoccur if we give them a ton of arms.
The same is true for Syrians who want to fight ISL/ISIS/IS. Any of these groups
flipping alliances and turning on the US is not that far fetched of an idea.
Most terrorist groups do not belong to or represent any
state. They live within the boundaries of political states, but are not welcome
in any city or village. To get out of caves and reside within a city, they have
to first forcefully capture it.
National boarders in this area are almost incidental. There
is more difference between northern Iraq and southern Iraq than there is
between parts of Iraq and their neighbor, Syria.
When we do try to simplify this situation and focus on a
recognized country, the issue does not become much clearer. Saudi Arabia has
been considered an American ally since 1933 and our alliance has only
strengthened under the last two presidents. The Saudi’s helped get Iraq out of
Kuwait. They also support efforts against Communism. But, the Saudis are at
odds with the US over Israel and many oil related issues.
Saudi Arabia along with Pakistan and the United Arab
Emirates are the lone three countries to recognize the political legitimacy of
the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The Taliban is an actual political
movement, albeit a fearful one readily accepting of terrorist groups. Saudis
sided with the Taliban even though they had a lot to do with the terrorist
attack on America on September 11, 2001.
To further illustrate just how much of an ally Saudi Arabia
is to the United States, a recent poll showed Saudi support for America at 38%.
The rejection rate of America was also at 38%. Apparently, 24% have mixed feelings about us.
Israel has been at war off and on, mainly on, with Palestine
for 70 years. This disagreement is a microcosm of a larger Israeli/Arab hatred.
Israel has come to an uneasy agreement with Egypt and Jordan, but Palestinians,
another stateless Muslim group seeking a home, still fight Israelis who do not
want them to have their desired state.
One of the reasons Israel is absent from much of the
discussion today concerning ISIL/ISIS/IS, or whatever the name-du-jour may be,
is that if Israel chimed in other Arab support against ISIL would surely wane. No
Arab wants to fight on the same side with Israel.
If there is a rule of thumb in the Middle East, it is that
“any enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This is not the case with Israel and a
host of Kurds.
I hope you have this all straight in your mind because we are
not done yet. Remember those “ton of individual sects” that were mentioned in
the first paragraph? Many of them are nameless, but they all fight too. They
have been fighting mini civil wars for all of those 1,383 years whether the foe
is an established group/sect/clan, or some new group that challenges their
thinking, usually due to an unacceptable interpretation of the Quran. When so
moved, they do a 180-degree turn and start fighting against one of the groups
with whom they were fighting side-by-side just last month. This move then
causes other shifting allegiances depending upon who is considered the most or
least offensive.
The entire Middle East and Northern Africa have been steeped
in a culture of war for over a millennium. On one level war is all they know and
on another, they seem to be proud it. This warring culture is one reason
recruitments into terrorist groups are so successful. To be a warrior is a
badge of honor.
All of these people, save the Israelis, have Islam as an
historic common denominator.
Therefore, to refer to the groups that are perpetrating
archaic atrocities as Muslim/Islamic terrorists or Muslim/Islamic extremists is
not technically wrong. To do so though is akin to referring to the Ku Klux Klan
as Christian terrorists or Christian extremists. Nearly every Klan member
claims Christianity as his religion, but what they practice is nowhere near
Christian ethos. To use the term Christian is playing into the Klan’s hands.
They’d love to be validated as a recognized Christian organization–a
significant status bump. The same–the exact same–reasoning is true with Muslim
or Islamic characteristics being applied to the groups beheading/burning/slaughtering
innocent captives today. They all would like to be thought of as religious sects
when they are not. President Obama is right in simply calling them common,
everyday terrorists–not one word more.
America has a culture of world leadership and we are
rightfully proud of that status. We would like nothing more than to broker a
lasting peace in the Middle East and Northern Africa. The mass killing has to
stop because it is barbaric and something civilized nations cannot
tolerate. Western cultures would
like nothing more than to fumigate the region and let freedom ring for all
citizens who would like to be law abiding and live a life of choices. But, we
can’t. Every military action; whether it is with a drone, a soldier fighting on
the ground, or a dollar spent is a total waste.
We’d help if we could, but as repugnant as it is, we gotta
keep our noses out.
Historically, on the odd occasion we succeeded in getting
rid of a corrupt government, more often than not, the succeeding leader was
worse than the one before. Thoroughly corrupt rulers like Saddam Hussein and
Muammar Gaddafi were awful, evil men, but they kept a lid on their charges.
When deposed, both countries got worse than they had. The charming political
phrase is that “at least the
despots kept the sh-- at shoe level.”
Unfortunately, the Middle Eastern war culture is too deep. Relationships
and allegiances too shifting Talks of peace or compromise too temporary. And,
any truths from today, too unstable for there to be any chance of winning a war
or establishing peace.
When Russia, the largest, most structured, and best
organized government in the area,
shoots a political dissident dead in the streets, we need to take heed and
realize that, as much as we’d like to, there is nothing we can do. We need to
spend our time and treasured resources on defending our country from here and
solving our social problems at home.
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