On Egypt, Foreign Policy and Islamophobia

I have been fairly entrenched in the Twittersphere the past two weeks regarding events in Egypt, which culminated Friday with Mubarak's resignation.

Tears of joy didn't stop that day when the news came down.

When one sees so much hatred and self destruction around the world, moments like this restore my faith, love and hope for humanity as a whole - but more than that, God truly loves and supports His creation on that day.

"Verily, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves."(13:11)

And this was done with such grace and restraint on the part of the protestors, without invasions or outside intervention.

"Do not let your hatred of a people incite you to aggression." 5:2.

Three days later, I am still unspeakably humbled to be alive and part of creation. Humanity proved itself worthy of God's gifts, fulfilled the duties of being God's representative.

Lessons Learned For U.S. Foreign Policy

While I have immense respect and admiration for President Obama, one can only describe the U.S. foreign policy steps and the State Department as incoherent at best. From Biden saying Mubarak wasn't a dictator, to secretary of State Clinton claiming Egypt was "stable", to appointing Egypt regime lobbyist Wisner as special envoy, it was a foreign policy amateur hour. Clearly, the U.S. needs to get its in-house communications in order, and some better foreign policy analysis and intelligence wouldn't hurt either: many bipartisan groups and think tanks saw this coming.

Of course, this isn't all on Obama: the current White house administration has certainly inherited a long-standing U.S. foreign policy tradition
of selling out its democratic values in exchange for perceived foreign interests. I love America, but this perpetual habit saddens me. It ultimately shows, at least publicly, a lack of integrity, a betrayal of the very ideals that thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir Square fought for. As the U.S. waffled and hedged on propping up Mubarak for its own strategic safeguarding, truer champions of democracy were risking their lives in Cairo. In those moments, they upheld the American ideal for democracy and pluralism far better than the American government did. And that should be OK -- America does not hold a patent or copyright or monopoly on democracy, though it wants to -- but I do find it slightly ironic.

I get that there are numerous factors, interests and players in the region to balance, but a stronger, earlier position in favor of the democracy movement would have a) been the morally correct thing to do and b) would have been a small but significant step in improving how the U.S. is often seen at the grassroots level in the Arab world. I think that's a much better tradeoff.

As ifikra tweeted on Feb 3rd: "Dear US government: We don't hate you because we hate your freedom; we hate you because you hate our freedom." I don't believe that's a singularly held view, so demonstrable actions the U.S. can take to change that perception can only benefit the U.S. vis-a-vis long-term security and the remainder of its international standing.

But whatever side the U.S. chose to take on Egypt, it ultimately didn't matter: The Egyptian uprising took place and had its outcome without large-scale U.S. intervention. That's a good thing, though it may make some State Department staffers scratch their heads and/or wax nostalgic to see that America's days of influence are over. But they are, and that in turn necessitates some fundamental paradigm-shifting in U.S. foreign policy approach.

What should the U.S do now? Support democratic movements from a distance, without intervention. Learn to let go. Retire, at least somewhat, from the world's stage. Allow others their destiny and let nations become allies -- no more or less -- rather than embroiled, co-dependent clients.

Inherent in the idea of democracy is the right to self-determination, something the US doesn't ever grasp. A democratic foreign government doesn't mean it must be pro U.S. or a U.S. puppet, which is a concept rather hard for the U.S. to live with -- but given the emerging force of will for democracy by others around the world, it will have to.

Islamophobes, Take Heed

While the Egypt revolution was never about Islam, Islamophobes were hoping it was, and are still looking for ways to inject an Islamo-terrorist boogeyman scenario into the mix. But events, accounts and images from Egypt should help to dispel the stereotyped image of the violent, intolerant, democracy-hating "Muslim world." That said, some of the extreme Islamophobes who have built a profitable career from fear-mongering (*COUGH* long-term strategy also used by Mubarak) may have too many dollars riding on their Brand O' Fear to be dissuaded by 80 million Egyptians of different faiths working together, so no doubt their arguments will become more inane, alarmist, and logic/fact-free desperate.

But we'll be watching the chatter, just as the world watched truth and principle win out in Egypt Friday; and I love E.J. Dionne on NPR last Friday citing his colleague Stephen Grand that we view 2/11 as a bookend to 9/11:

After 9/11, we were so inclined to see the Arab and Muslim world in light of a terrible terrorist event or a set of terrorist events. From now on, we can see the Arab/Muslim world through the eyes of brave democrats who fought for liberty.

The wave of democratic impulse seems to be spreading to other countries. May they also emerge peacefully as self-empowered true nations.