Obama’s Middle East misadventure and the rise of radical Islam by Majeed Dahiru

The Obama administration’s foreign policy in the Middle East has contributed immensely to the rise of radical Islam and worldwide jihadist movements. His policy of appeasement and compromise, which is characterised by hesitation, indecision and contradiction, has only succeeded in further complicating the already complex situation of the predominantly restive Muslim Middle East region.

Historical Fault Lines
This historic region is fraught with deep fault lines along religious and racial divides. The root of the three leading monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is traceable to the region. These differences have often times found expression in economic and political struggle, with conflicts and wars as consequences. The region has witnessed bloodshed and

massive loss of lives over several centuries. The Middle East region is richly blessed with oil mineral resources which have attracted a lot of foreign interest, particularly from the Western powers of Europe and the United States of America. In order to have access to the oil mineral resources of the region, estimated at 266 billion barrels of proven reserves of crude oil, Western powers have often applied a realist foreign policy in the region, which has left a deep feeling of suspicion and mistrust on the part of the predominantly Muslim population against the predominantly Judeo-Christian Western nations.

The Palestine-Israeli Conflict
President Barack Obama’s greatest foreign policy misadventure in the Middle East has been his inability to move the Arab-Israeli peace process forward. Due to his irregular policy initiative, the peace process has collapsed almost completely.
Palestinians have been reduced to a fully subjugated people and their territories occupied, with the rapid expansion of illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which constitutes a clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, leaving the Palestinian people without any hope for statehood. His inability to carry out, conclusively, a fundamental shift from the traditional Washington-Tel Aviv foreign policy with the aim of a quicker and amicable settlement and final resolution of the Palestinian issue, in line with his initial intention, has only succeeded in reducing the people of Palestine to hopelessness, while also alienating the Israelis who are traditionally the most trusted ally of the US in the region.
Consequently, the United States has lost its leadership role in the Middle East and a very defiant Israeli government might, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been unleashed unchecked on the Palestinian people. Currently, over 380,000 Israelis are living in the occupied West Bank with another 375,000 living in East Jerusalem. The Israel-Palestine crisis is a major source of the hate doctrine and radicalisation against the West, because it feeds the emotion and sentiment of a Judeo-Christian Western conspiracy against Muslims. The earlier the peace process is back on track and quickly perfected, the sooner the wind of radicalisation will wane and the World will become a more peaceful place. The failure of the entire international community, led by Europe and the United states, to peacefully resolve this ugly situation it partly created and bring to an end the human tragedy that is Palestine today, has deepened the animosity against the Judeo-Christian West throughout the Muslim world. This situation, more than any, has provided ideological weapons for radical Islam. However, President Barack Obama has only left the people of this region hopeless by his non-decisive and lack of clear leadership approach to the issues.

The Obama Complication
Senator Barack Obama got elected as the president of the United States in 2008, on the promise of CHANGE. As a senator, from Illinois, Chicago, he opposed the invasion of and war in Iraq. This narrative resounded well before the American people who were war weary and clearly disenchanted. The war, from the beginning, was unpopular both at home and abroad. Approximately 60 percent of Americans opposed the war based on the fact that the premise for war was false. Saddam Hussein was alleged to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction. However, several independent and credible sources rightly disputed this claim. The war in Iraq further strained the already frosty relationship between the United States and the Muslim world.
President Obama proposed a new approach to the American-Middle East relations, which would be based on mutual respect and cooperation aimed at assuaging the feeling of suspicion that has existed between both peoples. He quickly set a time-table for a phased withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and faithfully attempted to implement it. President Obama has since been steadfast in his no boots on the ground policy. He showed enthusiasm for a quick and just resolution of the Israeli-Arab peace process and consistently pushed for a two state solution along the 1967 line of armistice, living harmoniously and peacefully, side by side. This show of tactical deviation from Washington establishment foreign policy, earned him praise and accolades worldwide and particularly from the Muslim world. He was awarded, early in his administration, the Nobel Peace Prize in clear appreciation of his peace efforts.
However, the Nobel Peace Prize proved to be his greatest undoing. As a recipient of the distinguished award, he tried hard to live true to his reputation and, in the process, his duties as the Commander in Chief of the World’s most powerful nation has suffered greatly. In pursuit of peace, he has allowed both the state and non-state actors to take the advantage of his pacifist policies to undermine vital US strategic security and economic interests. Severally, he failed to act quickly and decisively, to arrest the situation the region found itself in. His hurried withdrawal of troops from Iraq and his no boots on the ground policy were taken too far and have proved to be a tactical military mistake.

Bush and the Iraqi Question
For the records, the invasion and war in Iraq in March 2003 (Operation Enduring Freedom) was and remains unjustifiable. The war was believed to be a personal project of vendetta of President George Bush, backed by the Republican power establishment. A war based on false intelligence on the possession of weapons of mass destruction remains one of the greatest foreign policy blunders of the United States of America in modern times.
However, that President George Bush fought a wrong war does not mean that President Barack Obama should not fight the right war and save the world from forces of destabilisation. The United States has a tradition of standing up to defend oppressed people everywhere in the world. This great nation has, time without number, sacrificed for others to live. If President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wasn’t decisive during the Second World War, and refused to put boots on the ground, the consequence of a Hitler dominated world could better be imagined. If President Bill Clinton did not swiftly intervene in the Balkans, many more Muslim Bosnians would have been slaughtered.

Political Islam In the Mix
Another contentious issue that has contributed to the rise of violent and radical Islamic movements is the inability of political Islam to find space and expression through a democratic process. Political Islam is a system wherein aspirations by Muslims to be governed by Islamic law, the sharia, can be achieved through an electoral and people-centered democratic process. To an average Muslim, Sharia law is the answer to all human problems. A utopia of some sort. It is believed to be a divine law, infallible and without which, its total application, one’s faith as a Muslim is considered incomplete. These are the reasons why Islamist groups enjoy mass appeal and legitimacy among a broad section of Muslims. A good example of a democratic Muslim country is the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, it is regrettable to note that Western powers have often conspired with their traditional allies in the region to frustrate political Islam out of the fear of having a radical regime at the head of a legitimate state. Recall that the Front for Islamic Salvation (FIS), an Islamist party was set to take power through a free and fair democratic process in Algeria in 1990, but the elections were cancelled and a coup by the military ended the entire process. This began a prolonged armed conflict which claimed thousands of lives. Several years later in 2005 when Hamas was overwhelmingly elected by the Palestinian people, the western world refused to recognise or negotiate with the Islamist party, despite being democratically elected. When Islamic rule cannot be achieved through a peaceful democratic process, the only other option will be to resort to violent agitation and radical jihadist movements.
Violent crackdowns and brutal suppression of Islamic political groups like the Muslim brotherhood, have given rise to radical and violent Islam as an alternative. A people have the right to be governed by whatever form of government they wish.

Majeed Dahiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja and can be reached through dahirumajeed@gmail.com.

Credit: http://www.peoplesdailyng.com/