Archives

The great disappearing act

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Sep 18, 2008

It’s incredible how fast foreign policy has been flung to the sidelines in this US presidential campaign. Ironically, the great disappearing act has happened in exactly the week that a group calling itself Islamic Jihad murdered 10 people, including civilians, outside the US embassy in Sana’a.  The attackers meant to kill Americans. Instead, they got fellow Muslims.

We all know why foreign policy now matters less: It’s the economy, stupid.

Doubtless, the lies that led to today’s stock market crisis need to be confronted. But so do the lies that allow attempted assaults on US diplomats and ordinary Muslims in their midst.

I was in Yemen two years ago to shoot my documentary, Faith Without Fear. My crew and I wanted to meet graduates of a much-touted government initiative to de-program jihadists. Yemeni authorities handed us their “biggest success”: Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard.

Was he truly re-habilitated? Here’s a slice of my interview with him:

I was a personal guard of Osama Bin Laden.

Irshad: How do you view him today?

It’s a very sensitive question. However, I’ll respond honestly. I wish that I did not have to leave Sheikh Osama, not even for one hour… I have committed myself to protect Muslims everywhere. Jihad was practised by the Prophet himself, and by his companions as well. And some of them fell as martyrs. So the Prophet and his companions are our role models.

Irshad: Many of the Muslims I have spoken with would argue that what you have just said is not just a misinterpretation, but even an abuse of Islam.

I would like you to ask them this question again and ask them what they would do if their women were raped, their children were slaughtered and they were forced out of their homes. I am sure you would have a very different answer.

Irshad: Would you be proud to have [your son] Habib become a martyr?

It would be my wish for him to die as a martyr because if I don’t fall as a martyr, then he will be able to intercede for his family with God.

Now, I have no idea if this guy participated in the latest assault on the US embassy in Sana’a, but you can see why I wouldn’t be shocked if he did.

The bottom line: America has a lot of work to do with its Muslim friends — Yemen, Pakistan and Indonesia, to name but a few.

Since the spring, foreign policy has driven major decisions made by both campaigns: for example, Obama’s trip to Iraq and Europe, followed by his choice of a running mate in Joe Biden, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Likewise, you couldn’t get McCain to shut up about the surge in Iraq, the threat of Iran and the Russian invasion of lil’ Georgia.

Of course, a serious foreign policy discussion can’t be conducted on the campaign trail. But a vetting of who takes foreign policy more seriously can.

And it must, for the sake of the our economy if not our security.