On Remembrance

[amari_z]

Because a cult of victimhood is unhealthy and gives rise to a strident self-righteousness, and because, if our true goal is to provide a worthy memorial to those who have been lost, we can only do so by learning the lessons offered, here’s an excerpt from the introduction of The Iron Cage: The History of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood by Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies at Columbia University, that says what I want to say with far more eloquence and erudition than I could hope to manage. Reluctantly excerpted for length.



Having completed that book [Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East], I realized that I had largely failed to address an issue generally ignored in American public discourse about the Middle East. This is the long, involved, and often close relationship of the U.S. government with some of the villains of the tragedy of 9/11, a relationship far more complex than Americans have generally been led to believe. Delineating these ties would of course in no way mitigate the full and terrible responsibility of those who had planned and perpetuated the atrocious murders of thousands of innocent Americans. Nevertheless, it would show that these individuals did not materialize out of a vacuum, and that they were not in fact as utterly alien as they appeared to be, or were made to appear by the government, the media, and assorted self-proclaimed experts. To show this, it would be necessary to explain how for many decades the United States fostered or allied itself with some of the reactionary, obscurantist, illiberal Islamic tendencies that, metastasizing over many years, engendered the individuals and groups who carried out the attacks of September 11. It would also be necessary to explain to Americans—many of whom hold the belief that their country acts only for good around the world—that various actions of their government over several decades have had disastrous consequences in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and elsewhere in the Arab and Islamic worlds.

In the wake of September 11, some of the commentators have argued that to refer even obliquely to such matters was tantamount to acting as apologist for the assailants, and for terrorism generally. Irrespective of the sometimes sordid reality of the American involvement the Middle East for well over half a century, those who made such references were described as “blame America firsters.” Here is a clear case of how a traumatic atrocity can be cynically exploited to suppress historical truths. The result was a rejection of any attempt to explain the historical context for the events of 9/11 and other gratuitous acts of terrorism against Americans, and the preponderance of grotesque and thoroughly ignorant caricatures as conveyed in such statements as, “They hate our freedom,” “They resent our culture,” and “Their religion preaches hatred.”

The avoidance of the hard realities of the Middle East in some quarters in the United States is not a new phenomenon. In particular, there has been a traditional aversion on the part of many Americans to hearing any serious analysis, let alone criticism, of their country’s Middle East policies, or those U.S. allies in the region. . . .

In consequence of all these factors, there has been little coverage of certain types of Middle Eastern news in the United States. This virtual blackout has largely been a function of American media self-censorship. Especially on television, where most Americans get their news, there has been little detailed reportage on the conditions of the Israeli-occupied territories (indeed of the very fact that there is an Israeli occupation, maintained by violence), and there has been little coverage of the routine domestic repression, violations of human rights, and restrictions on democracy and freedom of expression in American’s Arab allies and client states. . . .

Nevertheless, it is undeniable fact that may of those who planned and carried out the attacks of September 11, or those who guided, led, taught and supported them, where not so very long ago welcome allies of the United States and various Middle Eastern regimes to which it is closely linked. . . . Specifically, the masterminds of 9/11, and their intellectual forebears and spiritual guides were frequently the ardent and devoted foot-soldiers of the United States and its allies in the murky covert struggles against the Soviet Union and the other opponents in the Middle East from the mid-1950s until the early 1990s. . . .

All of this exceedingly germane history, some of it quite recent, has been obliterated or forgotten. . . .

Uncomfortably for both American policymakers and for their critics, these Islamic radicals, beyond their reactionary social and cultural stances, which generally have had a narrow appeal in the Arab and Islamic worlds, also espoused other causes that have been broadly popular throughout the region. These causes included several related positions: opposing Israeli occupation and supporting Palestinian self-determination; condemning the sanctions regime imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War of 1991 and the 2003 invasion of that country; demanding removal of the unpopular American bases from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and other Arab countries; and resisting the undemocratic, oligarchic, and often corrupt regimes like those of Saudi Arabia and Egypt—most of them shored up by the United States and other Western powers—that dominate the Middle East.

***

If there is ill will toward the United States in many Middle Eastern countries, it is a mistake to try to explain it by reference to Islamic doctrine, to the alleged propensity of Muslims for violence, or to the supposed centrality of the concept of jihad to Islam. One need look no further than the corrupt and autocratic regimes propped up by the United States all over the Middle East, and the American polices regarding Palestine, Iraq, and other issues that are highly unpopular in the region.

For many years, the United States largely escaped the perils and pitfalls of the its unilateralism and insensitivity to opinion in the Middle East—the repeated bombings of U.S. embassies and military barracks in the region notwithstanding. Again and again, top policymakers in Washington resolutely ignored the many warning signs of a growing level of unhappiness with American policy among Arabs and Muslims. They in turn helped anesthetize the general public, lulling it with bogus nostrums such as the U.S. role as a peacemaker in the Middle East and supporter of democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds. It seems that even a shock of magnitude of September 11 was not sufficient to free most Americans of such illusions, to force them to examine the history of their own country’s deeply flawed polices for the origins of much of the violence and instability today in the Middle East and the rest of the Islamic world. Notwithstanding all the shocks produced by American misadventures Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the region, we still seem to be living in an era of historical amnesia.

Comments

[darklyscarlett.livejournal.com]

It seems that even a shock of magnitude of September 11 was not sufficient to free most Americans of such illusions.

Indeed, the pageantry of 9/11 memorial ceremonies has become the ultimate form of RetCon: What better way to forget the consequences of US policy and institutionalized racism and xenophobia, not to mention the aftermath of reactionary (derivative?) war mogering than a play on the sentiments of invasion and grievious loss?

To categorize our politically-motivated incursions in the Muslim world as misadventures is to put it very mildly.

[amari-z.livejournal.com]

I like his writing style for the very reason that he manages to convey his point without the shrillness/stridentness/shouting/flailing that I myself can't resist. I actually think misadventures is a great word here, not just because of the emphasis by understatement and the highlighting of the lack of serious analysis that America has applied to its actions, but also because it suggests the continuity of America's behavior with that of the previous colonial powers, where colonialism was often viewed as an "adventure."

And how awesome is "lulling it with bogus nostrums such as the U.S. role as a peacemaker in the Middle East and supporter of democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds"?

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

In a word: yes.

[shelley-stone.livejournal.com]

September 11th was a shock to our collective systems. What occurred that day will live in infamy for centuries. However, you're correct when you say the terrorists did not materialize out of nothing. They were nurtured and turned lose on the world by the very powers that claim to be working for good in world.

As humans we tend to be self-righteous and love nothing more than to fight to prove that our cause is righteous. If everyone is wrong then who is right? If everyone is right, then who is wrong? You cannot force your opinions and views on others and expect them to thank you.

My prayers are with the families left behind and for those innocent people who died needlessly.

Shelley

[amari-z.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is that while it was a horrific, grotesque event,it will stick in the mind for the fantastical nature of the execution and the identity of those attacked, while other acts, motivated by equally abhorrent agendas that have destroyed far more lives, are never spoken of--the silence at least partially justified by the attack itself. Rather than learning a lesson from this "shock to the system" we have, instead, used it as a justification for even worse behavior, which has done the opposite of attempting to address the issues behind the attack, and instead further inflamed those very problems.

[shelley-stone.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your assessment. We implement stricter security and harsher penalties, but they do not stop only encourage more violent tendencies. The more you tighten the noose, the more people struggle to get free.

Shelley