An amateurish U.S. film mocking the Prophet Mohammed and denigrating Islam unleashed massive and violent anti-American protests throughout the world last week.
The angry demonstrations turned deadly when unknown assailants attacked the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three staff members. Security forces in several countries killed dozens of protesters as they burned American flags and scaled the walls of U.S. embassies.
Pouring more oil on the fire, initial reports falsely claimed that the movie was produced and financed by Israelis. In fact, it was produced in Southern California by a Christian Egyptian convict whose film was severely denounced by Bishop Serapion of the Coptic Church in Los Angeles.
The real issue, however, goes beyond the vile movie and its reckless producer. The film simply served as a pretext for protesters to express their pent up anti-American anger after decades of flawed and counter-productive U.S. foreign policies—none of which justifies the killing of American diplomats and attacks on U.S. embassies.
The list of serious missteps by successive U.S. administrations is lengthy enough to fill many volumes. Whether it is called the Arab Spring or Winter of Discontent, the down-trodden masses of third-world countries have finally erupted in anti-American rage, having long-endured oppressive tyrants backed by Washington. To achieve short-term and shortsighted objectives, American policymakers often damage U.S. interests in the long run.
Another regrettable U.S. mistake is pouring billions of dollars into the pockets of corrupt foreign leaders, to prop up puppet regimes and buy their friendship. Unfortunately, very little of this U.S. largesse has trickled down to the poor and needy. Ultimately, the masses overthrow the autocrats and take their anger on the nearest U.S. target—the American Embassy and the flag that to them symbolizes oppression and misery.
Lengthy Congressional hearings are then held in Washington, as legislators wonder why so many foreign leaders have become anti-American and what their corrupt predecessors have done with billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid. Instead of taking steps to ensure that the assistance provided by the United States reaches the neediest segments of society, Congress often threatens to cut off all aid to teach the new leaders a lesson, thereby antagonizing them even more.
Most problematic is the risky role the United States plays in regional conflicts. Due to misperceived interests, American officials too often throw their weight around, rushing headlong into unnecessary wars or taking one-sided positions, while a more balanced approach would be more productive in peacefully mediating these conflicts.
Caution is particularly necessary during an election year, when U.S. presidential candidates make overly partisan statements to pander to the interests of diverse constituencies. A careless remark can have far-reaching consequences, tarnishing America’s image and alienating millions of people around the world.
Most Arabs and Muslims are convinced that America has not been an honest broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict. As a result, they harbor great resentment and deep-seated anger toward the United States. Any provocation, such as burning the Koran or making anti-Muslim movies, triggers a violent reaction. While U.S. laws protect even the vilest forms of speech, people must realize that words have consequences; and just because it is legal to say something, it may not be prudent to do so!
However, in all fairness, not every hostile act in the world should be blamed on U.S. foreign policies. There are extremists in every race, religion, and nation motivated by hostile ideologies with the sole aim of causing indiscriminate destruction. Regrettably, Western governments and societies often mistakenly blame everyone who shares the racial and religious affiliation of few extremists, thereby antagonizing millions of peaceful citizens.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of learned scholars in academia and experts in governmental agencies who can advise and educate U.S. leaders, many of whom still lack a basic knowledge of world affairs. A case in point is a conversation former President George W. Bush had with three Iraqi-Americans. When the president was informed about the existence of different Islamic sects in Iraq, he reportedly told his guests that he did not know there were Sunnis and Shias in that country. “I thought the Iraqis were Muslims,” he was quoted as saying.
While bad movies can trigger short-term outbreaks of violence, bad foreign policies can cause long-term damage to U.S. national interests.
Harut Sassounian
Very well said Mr. Sassounian.
Very true..
Case in point: Iran: One only has to look at Iran’s history to understand why they are where they are today and why they absolutely loath the US and Great Britain.. The CIA and the British intelligence has been stealing and robing and basically screwing that country over for 1/2 century which created such a backlash that it propelled it into a social dark ages as now an Islamic state.
Also Mr. Sassounian, that same Neo-con mentality has been a detriment to the Armenian cause and the truth and justice the Armenians so deserves, as State department after State Department seem to help hide the reality of the Armenian Genocide on behalf of the Turks. And that charade doesn’t seem to want to end anytime soon regardless of party affiliation.
The Obama administration told us that it was not a planned attack, but reports that have issued tell us that there was no demonstration, that about 400 jihadis attacked the embassy and included RPGs. The attackers also had someone on the inside to give them the location of the ambassador’s safe house. Multiple Libyan government officials said they notified the US government three days before the 11th that an attack was very likely. It is a sad day when the statements of the Libyan government are more credible then the US government. What happened in Benghazi had nothing to do with the movie. The Obama administration is telling us lies.
The front groups for the attackers are pushing a very clever strategy. By blaming the movie (which had been on YouTube for over four months which almost also no one had seen) they are causing us to be in conflict with ourselves concerning first amendment rights of free speech. Note that the US State Dept has already started talking to the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation about limiting criticism of Islam, inside the US! If we start infringing on the freedom of expression in the US we are playing right into their strategy; we will be enforcing dhimmitude on ourselves. I for one will never bow my head like a dhimmi like our people did for hundreds of years under Turkish occupation, and will continue to speak out for justice for the Copts and other Christians in the Middle East that are enduring immense suffering from Muslims and Islamic authority. The Copts are now suffering crucifixion in Egypt. The US government has been and still is the enabler and supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis that are the instigators of this horror. And next on their agenda is Syria where more of our people will suffer the US policy to put the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis in power there. Then more Christians will suffer, and we can again blame some movie instead of pointing the finger at the lies of the Obama administration.
Good comment, Arius. The whole matter looks like the work of the international conspiracy aimed at dumbing down the people and advancing their sinister agendas. I suspect that the US administration has manipulated the events to the effect that attacks on the US diplomatic personnel took place. The movie was meant as a catalyst for such events but not as the primary reason. Cheap and easily detectable globalist tricks. And primitive, too, as their overall mentality.
Mr. Sassounian, good analysis. But I was hoping you would be a bit more politically-incorrect than this :)
I dont think it is right to blame the US for all of this. I think it is ok to call things by its name. There is something fundementally wrong with Islam. I am an Azeri, supposed to be Muslim but who is not. I feel ashamed of even being supposed to be a Mulsim when I watched these protests. What a bunch of ignoramus they are! And such a total lack of sense of humor! I thought the movie was hilarious. And such insecurity … feeling offended by everything. As to what is wrong with these people (or us, I guess), not sure. Puzzled.
The real issue, however, goes beyond the vile movie and its reckless producer. The film simply served as a pretext for protesters to express their pent up anti-American anger after decades of flawed and counter-productive U.S. foreign policies—none of which justifies the killing of American diplomats and attacks on U.S. embassies. —— BINGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Harut
In an ideal middle eastern Islamic world, Caliphate is established once more, in Levant, and Turks once again are masters of the Arab Muslims who gratefully submit themselves to the wills and whims of Turkokratia.Hyastan, then would soon be forgotten.The “Ottoman genocide of Armenians” ,a worthy project painstakingly sewn by generation of Armenian activists would soon en-tale a Whaaa…retort.
Muslims-Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Persians- all either participated in benefiting from “the Ottoman genocide of Armenians” or remained aloof. For good reason too! Armenians were najess(unclean).Shariaa law said so.That made it OK to demonize or dismiss Armenians.
Today’s rioting Muslims are descendants of yesterday’s Muslims who are at war with yet another group of najessoon. This time Americans.Muhammad movie is just a convenient excuse.
Yes Harut! I am a neo-conservative Persian.
Parviz, The Armenian community in Iran is over 400 years old. They were brought to Iran, Persia as it was called back then, from the old Julfa to Isfahan province in the year 1603 by Shah Abbas as a result of a war between the Persian and the Ottoman Empires. They are spread across the country today but they are primarily concentrated in Isfahan, Northwestern cities such as Urmia, and in the capital city of Tehran. According to what I heard, whether it is true or a myth, the Armenians were subject to attacks and robberies because of their wealth and status in the communities in which they lived because they were skilled workers. To protect them from such attacks, the label of unclean (najess as you call it) was put on them, perhaps by Shah Abbas himself, to keep away the attackers and neutralize the attacks.
Having said that, I fail to make any connection whatsoever between the Armenian Genocide, which took place in Western Armenia in today’s Eastern Anatolia, and any profit the Persians may have made from this catastrophe. The friendship and fraternity between the Persians and the Armenians go back a couple of thousands of years. The Persian Empire and the Armenian kingdoms had close relations. I feel the same about the Arabs, when in fact, many of them helped the survivors of the genocide. That is how the Syrian and Lebanese Armenian communities came to be.
I do agree with you about the Turks and the Kurds. Some of the Kurdish tribes were used by the Turks to get rid of the Armenians from their homeland in return for false promises, their wealth and territories where they resided. A cavalry, named Hamidieh cavalry, made up of both Kurds and Turks was organized by the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Abdulhamit II who murdered 300,000 Armenians during his reign in 1890s. Ironically, today the very same people who collaborated with the Turks to liquidate the Armenians are subjects of Turkish oppression and discrimination. They have been labeled as “Mountain Turks” so as to disregard their existence as a separate entity in Turkey, thus allowing Turkey to deny them the basic rights such as teaching Kurdish in their schools.
The real beneficiaries of the Armenian Genocide are none other than the Turks themselves. Less than a hundred years ago there was a thriving ancient Armenian civilization in Eastern Turkey with a population of over two million, about 10% of Turkish population back then, and today there is none. Instead, there is the Republic of Turkey founded in 1923 on the corps of its Armenian natives.
I imagine AQ has commissioned many extremely amateurish films insulting to Moslems. Mob scenes are very convenient covers from which to kill.
Moslem mob violence was a feature of our ancestors’ lives. My grandmother was hidden from view on one such Friday afternoon. Sureniantz has a painting of a dead Der Hyr on the floor of a Church following one such rampage.
Thus, the umma speaks.
Dear Harut,
Thios man who calls himself Parviz is not a Persian(Iranian) but a fake one.I shall explain .He is referring to the Najess (persian word) used only by very uneducated, who neither write nor read Persian and in the past were totally ignored by the ruling class or the educated young,who never called that name to a non-moslem. I went to elementary and two classes of secondary Armenian/Iranian school there. The elementary only Persian was taught to us and it was a Zoroastrian school.BTW, iranians have always respected, latter.Now then this chap , is most likely one of those Baku,so to say azeris(who indeed having lived in Iran ,speak ,read and write perfect Pertsian) who nowadays act as agents for the Azerbaijan,whether in Iran, or elsewhere.
Pretty miuch like those Azeris that lived side by side in soviet Armenian(Yerevan mostly) and learnt to read write and speak Armenian.Close to 150,000 of them.I can guesstimate that at least one percent were left behind some 1000 or more as agents to stirr up trouble and inform Baki(Baku) and some of these 1000/1500 have also been relocated to U.s. Europe etc., and carry on the dirty work.
No sir, Persian Iranians have always been friendly with us(inclusive the Aterpatakan -Tabriz turkic but Persian educated ones who fact is come and go to Yerevan and behave. Indeed there may be a few ¨agents¨ again amongst these. So bdest is to ignore such posts by such Parviz name people.They are there to agitate, stirr up trouble, nada mas!!!
Yet no one protested in turkey or iran.
Dear Harut,
Firstly please excuse the bad writing above which i had to do in a jiffy.Many typographical gramatical errors….
Secondly ,I would like to comment on above so called Parviz post, again.Many will follow that main issue discussed had nothing to do with the ¨Ottoman Genocide of Armenians¨ as he writes,¨painstakingly swen…¨meaning a patchwork by us of same.This person really wishes to fish in murky waters.Real objective being denial of our Genocide debasing of it and then some..
Though he is aware of( I suppose) that the Arab states flatly rejected present Turkish overtures to ¨conduct them¨ so to say,which he tries very hard to generalize as kurds,arabs.persians and turks -here he is certainly well versed-since yes couple of those mentioned i.e., Truks and Kurds did ¨benefit¨¨ from our genocide BUT NOT THE ARABS OR PERSIANS.Quite the contrary they were very helpfull in aiding the survivors —-
Thence tying up one thing with another with one purpose/intention to smear ,Latter two nations and DEGRADE ARMENIANS ,as Najess(unclean) on the whole by all aforementioned. Arabs as we all know have good relations with us Armenians so do the Persiand/Iranians.
I would not wish to dwell upon others´ comments.However one caught my attention that again erroenously claims that Iran has regressed.Wrong,totally wrong the Religious factor has not stopped progress of that country in any aspect.Quiote the contrary. If anything it has helped it progress further in many fields and the whole of the nation is looking FWD to achieve more.
My last comment is for your assiduous work in digging up-as always-very miticulously as to the author ,rather producer of the Film. An Egyptian Christian Convict, which mix tells it all. A man with no convictions, rather a nobody who made the film to become famous???
Thanks for your fine journalism and all.
As always, thoughtful and astute observations.