Ellen Ratner the perilously liberal news analyst typically
offering the left-wing views on Fox News Watch; on Thursday published an
article titled "George W. Bush Has Saved More Lives Than Any American President" that is
guaranteed to shock the heck out of you as it angers folks on her side of the
aisle.
"George W. Bush, not Barack Obama, is the real American
hero in Africa," she amazingly began. "Take it from me, a liberal
Democrat who voted for Obama twice."
After discussing her knowledge of the problems on that
continent, Ratner continued her praise of our 43rd president:
Back in early 2008, when I started my work in South Sudan--I
have been working closely with Christian Solidarity International--everyone was
excited about the possibility of Barack Obama becoming president. [...]
Indeed, after Obama won the U.S. election in November of
2008, many Africans, in South Sudan, and everywhere else, were proud to wear
T-shirts with photos of President Obama on them. Yet now that Obama’s first
term has drawn to a close, the positive buzz about Obama has dramatically
shifted; the Obama excitement, and the T-shirts; have disappeared for the most
part.
In fact, South Sudanese today are thinking more about
another U.S. president: that would be Obama’s predecessor, Bush 43. As a
liberal Democrat and Obama supporter, I was particularly struck by this. Yes,
Bush is a hero in Africa, and Americans, too, should know why.
No American president, before or since, has had Bush’s
vision and determination to save so many millions of lives.
"Five million children, women and men have received
antiretroviral treatment under PEPFAR," Ratner wrote. "In 2010
alone, 600,000 pregnant mothers received treatment so their newborn children
would not be infected. Yes, millions of people live productive, healthy lives
due to Bush 43."
After discussing a new program the Bush's are working on to
fight cervical cancer, Ratner concluded, "This liberal commentator thanks
president and Mrs. Bush every single day for their amazing and tireless work
for humanity. They are wonderful role models for future leaders around the
world. I wish more leaders would follow the shining example of George W. and
Laura Bush."
What about Barack Obama? Has he set an example we should
follow in caring for the poor and the ill?
If President Obama really cares for poor – why has he never
lifted a finger to help the poor in his own family?
Here is a telling personal peculiarity about Obama: some of
his closest relatives are living in desperate poverty, yet he refuses to help
them in any way. His father’s sister is Hawa Auma - this is how she describes
herself: “I am the daughter of Hussein Onyango Obama and the sister of Barack
Obama senior and the aunt of the President.”
Hawa Auma is a widow in her seventies, and you can find her
on the streets of a small town in Kenya called Oyugis. There she sells charcoal
by the side of the road, making barely enough to live on. She says she would
like to get her teeth fixed, but she doesn’t have the money. 1
Then there is George Obama, the president’s half-brother.
George is the eighth and youngest child of Barack Obama Sr., a son he conceived
with his fourth wife, Jael Otieno. Author and speaker Dinesh D'Souza first
encountered George during the 2008 presidential campaign when he came across an
article in a London newspaper saying that “George Obama, Barack Obama’s
long-lost brother, was tracked down living in a hut on the outskirts of
Nairobi.” In the article, George was quoted saying that he lived on a few
dollars a day. He was reluctant to use the name Obama. “If anyone says
something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed.” A
subsequent report on CNN showed George’s six-by-ten-foot hut in the Huruma
slums of Nairobi. One of George’s neighbors, Emelda Negei, told CNN, “I would
like Obama to visit his brother to see how he is living, to improve his way of
life.” But Obama never has, nor has he provided a penny to help George. 2
Finally, there is the case of the Barack Obama Schools in the
Kenyan village of Kogelo, where Obama’s father grew up. Obama visited Kogelo as
a U.S. senator in 2006, and he was given a hero’s welcome. There are two
schools in Kogelo, and both were renamed
after him: Senator Obama Primary School and Senator Obama Secondary School. One
third of the students there are orphans. Obama toured the secondary school and
saw its dilapidated classrooms that lacked electricity, sanitation, and running
water. He told the people gathered there, including the Kenyan president, local
politicians, and the press, “Hopefully I can provide some assistance in the
future to this school.” Later he assured Principal Yuanita Obiero, “I have said
I will assist the school and I will do so.”
Two years later, in July 2008, Obiero told the London
Evening Standard, “Obama has not honored the promises he gave me. He has not
given us even one shilling. But we still have hope.” 3
Dinesh D'Souza visited the school in mid-2012 and was told
that Obama has yet to contribute anything to help. One local resident told him,
“We have completely given up hoping that he is going to do anything for us.”
Most of the American press simply refuses to report this
kind of information about President Obama. This is bizarre in itself, because
the stories are both interesting and relevant. Obama’s own conduct in these
situations is odd, not only because Obama is a multimillionaire and the most
powerful man in the world—it would take so little for him to help—but also because
his entire political agenda seems to be based on asking people who are well off
to pay more to assist those who are not so well off. Obama wants to force the
rich to pay more taxes in order to benefit the poor and the middle class (or so
he says). Yet in situations where Obama is in a direct position to contribute
and one would think has every reason and the
motivation to contribute, because many of these are his own family; where
even a little assistance would go a long way. Yet - he doesn’t provide any
assistance whatsoever.
QUESTION – Is it plausible that George W. Bush is not the
evil villain that the liberal media has claimed he is?
With regard to Barack Obama and his speeches that are packed
with continual moral rhetoric – is it possible that he is using Projection?
3David
Cohen, “Barack Obama’s Broken Promise to African Village,” London Evening
Standard, July 25, 2008.
Excerpt from -
Obama's America: Unmaking the American Dream by D'Souza, Dinesh (2012-08-13).
Perseus Books Group.
Psychological
projection - was first conceptualized by Sigmund Freud as a defense
mechanism in which a person unconsciously rejects his or her own unacceptable
attributes by ascribing them to objects or persons in the outside world
instead. … Theoretically, projection and the related projective identification
reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted unconscious impulses
or desires through displacement.
A new, 18-minute mini-documentary follows the journey of
Irina, a 23-year-old liberal, Jewish New Yorker who voted for Obama in 2008.
Yet as her connection to Israel has grown, and she has learned more about the
President's policies across the Middle East and towards Israel in particular,
Irina has come to realize that "when the chips are down," the
President may not "have Israel's back" as he says.
Chapter Twelve of - Obama's America: Unmaking the American
Dream.
Human history has often been a
record of nations and tribes—and yes, religions—subjugating one another in
pursuit of their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are
self-defeating.
—Barack
Obama, speech at Cairo University, June 4, 2009
In the last couple years, we have seen protests and
rebellions break out all over the Arab and Muslim world. It started in December
2010 when a 26-year-old Tunisian set himself on fire to protest unemployment
and corruption. Pretty soon there were uprisings in Tunisia which spread over
subsequent months to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Iran, and
Syria. When the dust had settled a year and a half later, four governments had
been toppled—the governments of Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Egypt. As of this
writing, Syria continues to battle resisters in several cities. The overall
impact of the so-called Arab Spring is two-fold: it has advanced the cause of
democracy in the Muslim world, and it has undermined the strength and influence
of the United States. As Fawaz Gerges put it in his recent book, Obama and the
Middle East, “U. S. influence … is at its lowest point since the beginning of
the Cold War in the late 1940s. America’s ability to dictate policy in the
Middle East has diminished considerably, and it no longer determines the course
of events in the region. America’s moment is coming to an end.”2
How did this rapid decline occur? The United States clearly
didn’t cause the Arab Spring. This was an indigenous revolution, a response to
repression and corruption which are unfortunately widespread in the Muslim
regimes of North Africa and the Middle East. Yet America’s actions in
responding to the Arab Spring have been wildly contradictory. In Libya,
President Obama used military force to oust the dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Obama’s stated reason was to prevent the Gaddafi regime from committing
genocide against the Libyan people, even though at the time America launched
its attack, fewer than 250 people had been killed. Meanwhile, Obama initially
refused to take any action in Syria; finally, under pressure, he reluctantly
provided modest non-military aid to the Syrian resistance. Obama’s conduct is
especially odd given that Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad had, over a period of
several months, killed more than 10,000 people. Evidently, genocide is more
acceptable in Syria than in Libya.
Obama also played an active role in removing the Egyptian
ruler, Hosni Mubarak, from power. Mubarak was replaced first by an interim
government established by the military, and then by a new government led by the
Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamic groups. These groups prevailed in
the Egyptian elections. The Obama administration’s role was, first, to use U.S.
diplomatic pressure to back the military in pressuring Mubarak to leave; then,
to turn on the military and back the street protesters’ demands for elections.
Obama did not bring the radical Muslims to power in Egypt—Egyptians voted them
in—but he cleared the way for their ascent. Yet if this could be considered an
exercise of American support for democracy, Obama responded in precisely the
opposite manner in 2009, when there were equally massive demonstrations in
favor of democracy in Iran. Then Obama urged patience and restraint, and the
consequence was that the mullahs and the police were successful in subduing the
rebels. So Mubarak was ejected in Egypt while the mullahs continue to rule
Iran.
To date, no one has convincingly explained why Obama used
force in Libya while eschewing it in Syria; or why Obama aided in the ouster of
the Mubarak regime while acquiescing in the crackdown of the Iranian regime.
Why intervene here rather than there? What is Obama’s principle of selectivity
that accounts for the seeming inconsistency in his foreign policy? There has
been a good deal of head-scratching on this. The best we have is Walter Russell
Mead’s theory that Obama is “the least competent manager of America’s Middle
East diplomatic portfolio in a very long time. He has committed our forces in
the strategically irrelevant backwater of Libya . . . . He has strained our
ties with the established regimes without winning new friends on the Arab Street
. . . . He has infuriated and frustrated long term friends, but made no headway
in reconciling enemies.”3 But surely Obama knows that Libya is strategically
irrelevant; surely he can see that he is antagonizing America’s friends and
strengthening America’s enemies. So Mead’s analysis only begs the question: Why
would Obama continue to act in this way when the results are as obvious to him
as to Mead and the rest of us?
Here I offer a coherent explanation that better accounts for
Obama’s conduct. There is in fact no inconsistency. Behind Obama’s apparent
“double standard” there is a single standard that is glaringly obvious. Obama
is getting precisely the results he wants. He is attempting to get rid of
American allies in Egypt and several other countries, and he has done that. He
is trying to conserve anti-American regimes in Syria and Iran, and he has done
that. Obama’s goal is to reduce America’s footprint in the Middle East, and in
four years Obama has been wildly successful in doing that too. We can confidently
project that if Obama is re-elected, American influence in the region, and in
the world, will decline further.
Four rulers are gone: Ben Ali in Tunisia, Ali Saleh in
Yemen, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. What did they have
in common? Sure, they were thugs, in a region of thugs. Sure, they were
corrupt, in an area of the world where corruption is the norm. But here is the
significant point: they were all also, to a lesser or greater degree, allies of
the United States. Mubarak was our strongest ally in the region, not counting
Israel. Ben Ali and Ali Saleh were both helping us fight al-Qaeda. Once called
“the mad dog of the Middle East,” Gaddafi had renounced his past support for
terrorism. Since 2002 he had suspended his nuclear weapons program and given up
his quest for weapons of mass destruction. He paid reparations for his role in
the Lockerbie bombing. He turned over terrorist suspects and normalized Libya’s
relations with the West. He also banned radical groups such as the Muslim
Brotherhood in Libya. Now all these men are gone, and in every case the United
States helped push them out.
Here for instance is the April 3, 2011, headline in the New
York Times: “U.S. Shifts to Seek Removal of Yemen’s Leader, an Ally.” We read
that “the United States, which long supported Yemen’s president” because “he
was considered a critical ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda” had,
under the Obama administration, “now quietly shifted positions” and was pushing
to get him “eased out of office.”4 The article expresses very little curiosity
about why Obama would want to push out a ruler who is pro-American and helping
in the fight against al-Qaeda.
In two of the four cases, Libya and Yemen, the devil we know
has been replaced by the devil we don’t. In other words, America is quite
possibly going to get new governments that are more anti-American and more
sympathetic to radical Islam. In Tunisia and Egypt, we know this is the case.
In Tunisia, the secular political parties were easily defeated by Nahda, a
long-banned Islamist party led by the radical activist Rachid Ghannouchi.
Tunisia’s new Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali, has been quoted saying that his
goal is to establish a “sixth caliphate” under Muslim holy law in Tunisia.5 The
Egyptian elections brought to power the Muslim Brotherhood, in coalition with
an even-more-radical Islamist party called the Party of Light.
The regimes in Syria and Iran have also been run by corrupt
dictators, so there is nothing new there. What, then, distinguishes them from
the regimes in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen? The distinguishing feature is
that Syria and Iran are ferociously opposed to the United States. In fact, they
have long been allied with each other in that opposition. If these regimes
fall, we can’t be sure what sort of regimes would replace them, but in Iran at
least we can be confident that the new regime would be less anti-American and
less anti-Israel. Yet it is the Iranian opposition that Obama has refused to
assist at all. Obama apparently believes in helping to oust pro-American
dictators and leaving anti-American dictators alone.
It may seem shocking to suggest that these are actually
Obama’s goals, as opposed to the unintentional consequences of his foreign
policy. Yet if Obama didn’t intend these results, you would expect him to
regret what has happened or start pursuing a different policy. On the contrary,
Obama forges ahead, offering aid and protection to the Islamic radicals who are
now in power. Obama’s actions suggest a man who knows exactly what he is doing,
even as naive pundits continue to lecture him on how he can more wisely advance
American interests and American influence in the Middle East. Obama coolly
ignores these people because advancing American interests and influence in the
region is the last thing he wants. Obama’s actions are totally consistent with
those of an anti-colonialist who considers America to be the global oppressor
that needs to be cut down to size.
To understand the Arab Spring, we have to recognize a shift
in strategy on the part of the Islamic radicals. Actually, it is a shift back
to an old strategy. Consider what Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri were
doing before they launched al-Qaeda. Bin Laden was fighting to overthrow the
pro-American government of Saudi Arabia, and Zawahiri was fighting to overthrow
the pro-American government of Egypt. In their own understanding, they were
fighting the “near enemy.” The Islamic radicals in those days didn’t bother
with attacking America directly, and they weren’t even that concerned with
Israel. Both were regarded as the “far enemy.” One of Zawahiri’s famous slogans
from that period was, “The road to Jerusalem runs through Cairo.” This meant
that Muslims had first to take over their own countries; then they would be
strong enough to tackle Israel and eventually the United States.6
Al-Qaeda’s formation represented a radical shift from
fighting the “near enemy” to fighting the “far enemy.” Zawahiri’s rationale for
the shift was that “it is clear that the Jewish-Crusader alliance, led by the
United States, will not allow any Islamic force to reach power in any of the
Muslim countries.”7 And on 9/11, the new strategy electrified the Muslim world
by successfully striking at the symbols of American military and financial
power. But now the radical Muslims have realized there is a strategy that works
much better. This strategy is called: democracy! And it is the current strategy
of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest radical Muslim group in the world, with
followings in dozens of Muslim countries. The Muslim Brotherhood never believed
that attacking the far enemy was the right strategy, but its own strategy of
domestic terrorism against the near enemy had failed because of effective
government reprisals. The Muslim Brotherhood needed to find a better way, and
in democracy it has found one.
True, historically the radical Muslims, including the Muslim
Brotherhood and al-Qaeda, have been enemies of democracy. Their general view
has been that it is wrong to subordinate the voice of God to the voice of the
people. But while al-Qaeda still reviles democracy, the Muslim Brotherhood
switched its position in 2005, when Brotherhood-affiliated candidates ran in
Egypt’s parliamentary elections. Mahdi Akef, head of the Muslim Brotherhood,
surprised many by saying, “The ballot box has the final say. We don’t believe
in any other means of taking power.”8 Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood’s enthusiasm
for democracy has only grown stronger, and the Brotherhood is now the most
powerful voice in Islamic countries demanding a transition from dictatorship to
democracy. They have realized that if there are free elections, they have a
good chance to win. They first saw this in 1991, when a radical Muslim group
called the Islamic Salvation Front won a free election in Algeria. The Muslim
Brotherhood saw that its candidates won 20 percent of the seats in the 2005
Egyptian election, which was held under harshly restrictive conditions. And
democracy paid off for the radical Muslims again with the 2006 election victory
of Hamas in Gaza. This is why much of the Arab Spring’s push for democracy has
been promoted by radical Islamic organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood.
In assessing Obama’s strategy for North Africa and the
Middle East, let’s begin with Libya, the one country where Obama was willing to
use military force. At first he hesitated, but eventually he backed the efforts
of the Libyan resistance with attack aircraft, refueling tankers, surveillance
equipment, and other military aid, as part of a United Nations-authorized NATO
military action. The campaign was billed as an effort to save lives, yet it was
also clearly aimed at getting rid of Gaddafi, whose 41-year-old rule came to a
violent end. Why did Obama hesitate, and why did he act? On Hardball , Chris
Matthews said this was “a war without explanation” and added, “The Obama
doctrine—can you define it? We can’t.” Actually, I believe we can. So let’s
take the two elements separately. The most reasonable explanation for Obama’s
hesitation is that he was reluctant to get America involved in another war; he
would prefer America play a backseat role, which one Obama adviser described as
“leading from behind.”9 I believe this explanation is correct, although I would
interpret it in an anti-colonial way. For Obama, American intervention is
generally the problem, as in Iraq and Afghanistan. So naturally Obama wanted to
keep Imperial America out of Libya. But then why did he get America involved?
My argument is that he got involved in order to get rid of the longtime
anti-American ruler who switched sides and became, at least to a degree,
pro-American. Gaddafi was once a hero of the anti-colonialists and the
anti-Americans; now he had become an embarrassment. Obama’s initial hesitation
and then his “leading from behind” were the result of a clash of anti-colonial
goals. He hesitated because he didn’t want to lead Imperial America against a
North African ruler, and he acted because ultimately he had the more important
goal of toppling an anti-colonial sellout.
But this is not the standard explanation, so we have to
weigh my theory against plausible rivals. The standard justification was given
by Obama and then dutifully taken up by his allies in the media. “Some nations
may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries,” Obama said.
“The United States of America is different.” This of course is pure humbug. We
can test Obama’s professed unwillingness to turn a blind eye to atrocities by
considering the case of Syria, where Human Rights Watch and other human rights
groups have detailed the torture and execution-style killings that the
government’s thugs have meted out to protesters, especially in towns like Deraa
and Homs, where the civilian death toll exceeds 10,000 people, more than forty
times the number of deaths that were considered a sign of incipient “genocide”
in Libya.10 A United Nations peace plan had little or no effect in stopping the
sieges, arrests, and street killings.
Typical of the Obama administration’s response to the
violence in Syria was a statement issued on April 22, 2011: “We regret the loss
of life” in Syria and “our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the
victims.” In mid-August, as the killings continued and pressure for action
mounted, Obama called on Assad to step down. But he didn’t actually do anything
that would cause Assad to do this. Instead, the United States froze Syrian
assets in America, barred U.S. citizens from having business dealings with the
Syrian government, and made a few other symbolic gestures. None of this was
likely to change Assad’s mind, and none of it did. In February 2012, Obama
agreed to shut down the U.S. embassy in Damascus, another symbolic move.
Finally, Obama agreed to supply the rebels with non-lethal aid, including
medical supplies and some communications equipment. Whenever he is asked about
military intervention in Syria, Obama always says it would be “premature” and
could actually lead to more deaths—a thought that seems to have eluded him when
it came to Libya.11
This is not to say that the case for military intervention
in Syria is obvious. But Assad’s brutality has been far worse than Gaddafi’s,
Syria is openly allied with America’s enemy Iran, and Syria shelters a raft of
terrorist groups. Obama, of course, knows all this, so I can only smile when
pundits lecture Obama about it. Here it would be difficult to top the
neoconservative magazine the Weekly Standard. Max Boot informs Obama that he
has an “historic opportunity” to “take Syria out of the Iranian camp and deny
Hezbollah its main source of supply.” Boot urges Obama to “put away any
lingering illusions about the desirability of maintaining Assad in power and do
whatever is needed to topple him swiftly.” A few months later, Lee Smith in
that magazine faults Obama with being “sadly oblivious” to the situation and
therefore “dithering on Syria,” thus making him “a hapless spectator” of events
there.12 It never occurs to these pundits and their ilk that maybe Obama
refuses to use force because he wants Assad to remain in power. It’s not that
he misunderstands the situation; he understands the situation all too well. It
is the pundits who presume that Obama shares their goals; they are the ones who
misunderstand what Obama seeks to achieve. If Assad falls, it will be despite
Obama, not because of him.
Now let’s compare the situation in two countries that far
surpass Libya and Syria in importance: namely, Egypt and Iran. Egypt and Iran
are, along with Saudi Arabia, the most important countries in the region. We
are all familiar with the mass protests that erupted in Egypt’s Tahrir Square
starting in January 2011. Soon the protests spread to other cities. The
protesters appeared to be a coalition of disparate groups: liberals, leftists,
secularists, religious traditionalists, as well as Islamists and radical
Muslims. Their target was the tough but aged ruler Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled
for thirty years. Mubarak was determined to defeat the protesters or at least
outlast them. But to do this he needed the support of his military and also his
most valuable ally, the United States of America.
Obama’s response to the Egyptian uprising must be understood
as a two-step maneuver. Stage one: Obama backed the Egyptian military high
command against Mubarak. America gives $1.3 billion each year to the Egyptian
military, which is estimated to cover three-fourths of the cost of its arms
procurements. So Obama has tremendous leverage with the Egyptian military, and
he used this leverage to pressure the generals to get Mubarak out. Defense
Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Clinton reminded Obama of America’s
interests in the region and of Mubarak’s reliability as an ally, but that did not
deter Obama.13 He called Mubarak and told him it was time to leave. At this
point, Mubarak had no choice. His most powerful ally, America, and his own
generals were now against him. So Mubarak gave up.
Following Mubarak’s exit, a struggle began between the
military and the protesters on the street. The military was willing to have
elections, but wanted to protect its traditional prerogatives and control
defense and foreign policy. “The position of the armed forces will remain as it
is,” insisted Hussein Tantawi, the chief military commander. He was opposed by
the street protesters who demanded full democracy, including civilian control
of the military. Stage two of Obama’s approach was to turn on the Egyptian
military and back the street calls for democracy. As the New York Times put it,
“The Obama administration threw its weight behind the Egyptians who flooded
into Tahrir Square to demand that the generals relinquish power.”14 Obama did
this in the name of supporting full self-government in Egypt. Reluctantly, the
military gave in, succumbing to pressure from the Egyptian people at home and
from the American aid provider abroad. Elections were held, and that’s how the
radical Muslims came to power in Egypt.
The new government in Egypt is certainly more hostile to
Israel and the United States than its predecessor. For decades Egypt had no
diplomatic relations with Iran; one of the first acts of the new government was
to resume them. Egypt also weakened Israel’s position in the West Bank and Gaza
by brokering a peace deal between the two rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and
Fatah. Egypt’s foreign minister said he would open the Rafah border crossing
between Gaza and Egypt, frustrating the Israeli blockade of Hamas. The Egyptian
government also cancelled a natural gas deal with Israel, which Israeli Finance
Minister Yuval Steinitz said was a “dangerous precedent that clouds the peace
agreement between Israel and Egypt.” There are widespread fears in Israel that
the peace agreement itself is in jeopardy, and that Egypt may join the ranks of
Muslim nations who would like to see Israel cease to exist.15
So why did Obama support a process that produced an outcome
hostile to the United States and its ally Israel? For anyone with even a basic
knowledge of Egypt, it was apparent from the outset that the Muslim Brotherhood
was by far the best organized group in the country, and could spread its
message through Egypt’s mosques. It had demonstrated its popularity in the 2005
parliamentary elections. So it was hardly surprising when the radical Muslims
swept the Egyptian parliamentary elections with over 70 percent of the popular
vote. The largest vote getters were the candidates of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood’s creed is, “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader.
The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our
highest hope.” The al-Nour party, dominated by even more radical Salafi
Muslims, was the second highest vote getter. As for the liberal and secular
parties, they collectively managed a paltry 10 percent.
Obama has shown no regret whatever over the election outcome
in Egypt. In fact, when the Egyptian courts and military made a last-ditch
effort to thwart the rise of the radical Islamists, issuing rules that severely
limited the power of the president and the parliament, the Obama administration
moved quickly to block those rules. The Associated Press reported, “The Obama
administration warned Egypt’s military leaders . . . to speedily hand over
power or risk losing billions of dollars in U.S. military and economic aid.”
The article quoted State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland saying, “We are
particularly concerned by decisions that appear to prolong the military’s hold
on power.”16 Essentially the Obama administration demanded that the Egyptian
military submit to civilian control—in practice, to control by the Muslim
Brotherhood. This became even more clear when, a few days after Obama’s threat,
the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won the Egyptian presidential
election.
Some say Obama could not oppose a popular democratic
movement, even though it threatened to undermine U.S. interests. Fortunately
there is a way to test this claim. In Iran, Obama had the opportunity to
support a popular democratic movement just as large as the one in Egypt, and
the success of this movement would unquestionably advance U.S. interests. Obama
clarified what he really thinks about democracy in the Muslim world by how he
reacted to the pro-reform movement in Iran.
Massive demonstrations broke out in Iran in mid-2009. At
first glance this seemed to be a quarrel among the mullahs. The demonstrators
supported the candidacy of Mir Hossein Mousavi over that of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad was a proven demagogue, but since Mousavi was the
former prime minister under Ayatollah Khomeini, he didn’t seem like a big
improvement. Yet Mousavi had become a fierce critic of the Iranian government.
His candidacy symbolized a protest against rigged elections and an illegitimate
Iranian political system. For the first time in three decades, there were
widespread calls for the mullahs to relinquish power. This was a stunning
development, comparable to Boris Yeltsin’s call for the Communist Party in
Russia to abolish itself.
Never before had the United States had the chance to back a
popular democratic movement of this magnitude in a country that was
unremittingly hostile to America and its allies. Yet Obama refused to support
the protesters. He called for patience. He said he did not want to violate the
sovereignty of Iran. He said that there was “an extraordinary debate taking
place in Iran.” He expressed respectful solicitousness in noting “some reaction
from the Supreme Leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people have
deep concerns about the election.” He said that “the difference between
Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great
as has been advertised.” He said that the best course of action was to wait and
see. The U.S. government would “monitor and see how this plays out before we
make any judgments about how we proceed.” And Americans waited and saw on
television as the mullahs and their thugs beat the protesters into submission.
Eventually the protests dissipated and the “debate” concluded. Obama’s counsel
of patience proved to be a counsel of inaction. The window of opportunity
closed. 17
Even many Obama supporters will not defend Obama’s conduct
during the Iranian revolt. Yet one Obama cheerleader, Jonathan Alter, insists
that Obama was right. “It made sense.... He avoided full-throated support for
the dissidents,” Alter explains, “which would give the regime the excuse to say
the revolt was inspired by the United States.”18 Perhaps it would, but at least
there was a chance in Iran to turn things around. Obama’s decision to leave the
protesters on their own in 2009 ensured their defeat. Two years later,
demonstrations in solidarity with the Arab Spring were crushed by the mullahs,
arresting 1,500 people. Once again, Obama was silent and offered the protesters
no support whatever.
From the contrasting situations of Egypt and Iran, we can
conclude that Obama does in fact support democracy, but only a particular kind
of democracy. He opposes popular Muslim movements that advance American interests
while backing popular Muslim movements that oppose American interests. He
rejects calls for democracy when they undermine radical Islam while affirming
those same calls when they affirm the prospects of radical Islam. None of this
is to suggest that Obama is himself a Muslim, but rather, that Obama seeks a
diminution of American power and influence in the Muslim world. He has acted
decisively and consistently to achieve that goal. And today America is far
weaker in the region than it was four years ago.
So what’s next? In my view, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is
not only a crucial American ally, but also America’s largest foreign source for
oil. If Saudi Arabia falls, this would be a devastating blow to America’s
economy and foreign policy, and if the Islamists gained Mecca and Medina it
would be the greatest victory of radical Islam since the Khomeini revolution in
Iran. So here is my prediction. In a second term, Obama will work with
Islamists in Saudi Arabia and in neighboring countries to support a rebellion
against the Saudi royal family. When it occurs, he will say it is time for the
Saudi royals to move aside in favor of democracy. If the Saudi royals refuse to
abdicate, Obama will cut off American aid. Absent American assistance, the
House of Saud could fall just as Mubarak did. Then there would be elections,
which would bring the radical Muslims to power.
While a transition of power in Saudi Arabia would be a very
big deal, I believe that Obama has an even bigger objective in the Middle East.
There are three major countries in the region: Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
Since 1979, Iran has been in the hands of the radical Muslims. Now, with
Obama’s help, Egypt is moving into the radical Muslim camp. Saudi Arabia is the
only one left. So once Saudi Arabia falls, the radical Muslims have a chance to
achieve what they have long dreamed about: a complete unification of the Middle
East under a single Muslim caliphate. If Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia unite,
the smaller countries, from Jordan to the Gulf Kingdoms, would quickly succumb
or be overrun. And what can we call this new nation? Let’s call it the United
States of Islam. The term is not mine. It was coined by Kamal al-Helbawy, a
former spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, who is calling on Arabs to
eliminate the borders “drawn up by imperialist nations” and over the next few
years “have a country called the United States of Islam.”19
What is necessary for this to occur? Just one thing: the
Sunnis and the Shia have to work out their differences. The theological
differences are minor, but the historical enmities are real. There may be
clashes between the two, or even a war, as between the American North and
South, but eventually America came together, and so could the Muslims of the
Middle East. I predict that if they have the chance, they will come together in
the name of Islam as a global power. This way the Muslims can put up a single
front against the United States and Israel. So while history will credit Ronald
Reagan with producing the dissolution of the Soviet empire, history might
credit Obama with producing the unification of Islam.
Reference Notes
D'Souza, Dinesh (2012-08-13). Obama's America: Unmaking the
American Dream. Perseus Books Group.
1 Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on a New Beginning
lecture,” Cairo University, June 4, 2009.
2 Fawaz Gerges, Obama and the Middle East (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2012), p. 152.
5 “Islamists and Secularists at One,” Economist, November
26, 2011, p. 58.
6 Fawaz Gerges, The Far Enemy (Cambridge University Press,
2005); Ayman al-Zawahiri, “The Way To Jerusalem Passes Through Cairo,” Al
Mujahideen, April 1995.
7 Ayman al-Zawahiri, “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,”
Asharq al-Awsat, December 2001.
8 Mona El-Naggar, “Banned Group Urges Egyptians to Vote on
Sept. 7,” New York Times, August 22, 2005, p. A-7
9 David Corn,
Showdown (William Morrow, 2012), p. 218; Ryan Lizza, “The Consequentialist,”
New Yorker, May 2, 2011, p. 55.
Steven Lee Myers, “U. S. and Allies Say Syria Leader Must
Step Down,” New York Times, August 19, 2011, p. 1; Charles Levinson and Gregory
White, “America Exits Syria as Russia Makes Push,” Wall Street Journal,
February 7, 2012, p. 1; AP, “Obama: Syria Military Intervention Premature,”
Huffington Post, March 14, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/obama-syria-military-intervention_n_1345070.html
12 Max Boot, “Assad Must Go,” Weekly Standard, December 5,
2011, pp. 8–9; Lee Smith, “Free Syria,” Weekly Standard, March 5, 2012, pp.
8–9. 13 Helene Cooper, Mark Landler, and David Sanger, “In U. S. Signals to
Egypt, Obama Straddled a Rift,” New York Times, February 12, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13diplomacy
html?pagewanted=all.
14 David Kirkpatrick, “From U.S. and Tahrir Square,
Pressures Converge on Egypt’s Military,” New York Times, November 26, 2011, p.
A-9.
15 David Kirkpatrick, “Egypt Lifts a Border Blockage, Along
with the Hopes of Gazans,” New York Times, May 29, 2011, p. A-1; David
Kirkpatrick, “In Shift, Egypt Extends Hand to Israel’s Foes,” New York Times,
April 29, 2011, p. A-1; Ethan Bronner and Isabel Kershner, “Fatah and Hamas
Announce Outline of Deal,” New York Times, April 27, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?pagewanted=all
Matt Bradley and Joshua Mitnick, “Egypt Cancels Israel
Natural Gas Deal,” Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2012, p A-7.
18 Jonathan Alter, The Promise, p. 355. 19 Middle East Media
Research Institute, “Muslim Brotherhood Figure and Former Spokesman in the
West: Establish a Global Islamic State,” June 24, 2011, http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38783.htm
