Six consequences of the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi
Six consequences of the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi
Chris Doyle
The appalling attacks on the US Embassy in Cairo and the killings of four US officials including the Ambassador in Benghazi have shocked the world. These inexcusable acts of violence have been widely condemned. The full details of these attacks and who was behind them are not yet clear but we can make some initial comments about what these events reveal and what their consequences might be?
1) There will be no winners from these events - those that carried out these acts have damaged relations between Muslims and Christians, Muslims and the US whilst drawing attention to anti-Islamic nonsense that should be ignored.
2) Libya especially will lose out. (see article on impact on oil industry) Other countries, not just the US, may be reluctant to invest time and energy in the vital reconstruction and reconciliation process that is so needed to overcome the challenges of the post-Gaddafi era. The events prove that security in the country, especially outside of Tripoli, remains a major issue.
3) The rift between US and Islamic world remains wide – President Obama’s much heralded (overhyped) Cairo speech in 2009 has not worked. Many Muslims see a gap between the rhetoric and the reality of his policies. There is widespread belief that there is only half-hearted support for the Arab spring and popular aspirations, and especially when it affects US interests (Bahrain). Obama’s failure to make any progress over Palestine and his continued capitulation to Bibi Netanyahu and the Israel-first supporters in Congress has also disappointed many. In the US and elsewhere, continued violent attacks on American and other embassies have only reinforced a misleading image that Arab states are full of die-hard Islamic extremists, hell bent on opposing the US no matter what. The reaction to this film that denigrates the prophet Mohamed has likewise informed the view that many Muslims overreact and do not understand that violence is not an appropriate response. That the attacks took place on 9/11 reinforces findings of opinion polls that many Muslims do not believe that Arabs were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and therefore the date is not respected.
4) Islamophobia is flourishing. The video is sick, offensive and deliberately geared to provoking Muslims. (It also appalling made) News channels in the Arab world and elsewhere would be best advised not to give too much airtime to such nonsense. The likes of Pastor Terry Jones should be starved of publicity.
5) The US may become more isolationiist. The tendency under President Obama has been for a more realist and isolationist US approach to the Middle East. If he wins a second term he will more than likely continue to shift focus further away from the Middle East to priority areas such as the Pacific.
6) Intervention in the Middle East by the US and European powers, not least in Syria, may be even less likely. Such events will reinforce those who believe that the US should have less of a footprint in the region and that there will be no simple solution in Syria.
The best response to this crisis is not to allow the agenda to be driven by extremists. The vast majority of Muslims and the vast majority of Americans do not subscribe to either the views of the Muslim extremists invovled in the attacks nor the Islamophobes who produced and marketed the video.
From the Guardian live comment feed, 12 September 2012:
Libya attack 'will harm image of Muslims'
A comment from Chris Doyle of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu):
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Nothing can justify the terrible killing of the US ambassador and his colleagues. These protesters, far from promoting or protecting Islam in their anger at an insulting film on the internet, have only further harmed the image of Muslims worldwide.
Nothing could have been more counter-productive and better designed to give publicity to such Islamophobic material that is better being ignored as the rubbish it is.
And at a time when Libyans might benefit from constructive external help with the challenges of the post-Gaddafi era, such violence will only make this less likely.