Tuesday 27 August 2013

The US too will have blood on its hands in Egyptian crisis


By Rasna Warah  (email the author)

Posted  Monday, August 26  2013 at  21:41
In Summary
  • In the 1980s, this beacon of democracy financed the Mujahideen, which morphed into the dreaded Taliban, which grew into a global terrorist organisation known as Al Qaeda.


The military forces of an illegally installed government killed hundreds of protesters in what can only be described as a massacre. Yet the United States of America, the “leader of the free world”, continues to provide the same military with $1.3 billion a year.
There have been no sanctions against Egypt, nor any signs that US military assistance to the country will cease. This makes the United States complicit in the crimes against civilians being committed by the Egyptian military and the leaders it is supporting.
However, this is not the first time that the United States has had a direct hand in escalating or even causing insecurity around the world. Everywhere the US intervenes, it leaves devastation in its wake.
When the United States and Britain invaded Iraq in 2003, they ignited sectarianism and provided a fertile ground for Al Qaeda to take root. Iraq is still reeling from the havoc caused by that invasion, and continues to suffer from violence, including suicide bombings.
In Pakistan, the US has for decades been providing aid to military-style dictatorships that failed to improve the lot of ordinary Pakistanis, especially women.
In the 1980s, this beacon of democracy financed the Mujahideen, which morphed into the dreaded Taliban, which grew into a global terrorist organisation known as Al Qaeda.
In Somalia, it backed Ethiopian forces to oust the Islamic Courts Union, which brought a semblance of law and order in this war-torn country. Ousted members of the ICU formed Al Shabaab, another terrorist outfit that has been oppressing the Somali people for the last seven years.
My fear is that if the Muslim Brotherhood is similarly suppressed in Egypt, it might get radicalised and take up arms against the government. Egypt could go the Syria way, which would be a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.
The United States’ misguided foreign policy has tended to radicalise groups that may be simply seeking law and order or social justice. The world thought that President Barack Obama may bring about some sanity in American foreign policy but his administration has not only continued with the murderous, short-sighted ways of his predecessors, but has actually made things a lot worse.
The US government’s foreign policy under Obama has become more lethal and more militarised. It is also inconsistent. The United States claims to be a defender of human rights but fails to bring a regime to book if this action would impact its oil or security interests.
Oil-producing monarchies in the Arabian peninsula that have failed to advance women’s rights or freedom of expression are tolerated, but when an African government refuses to recognise gay rights, it is called intolerant.
It is quick to support the International Criminal Tribunal when it suits it, but refuses to see the crimes against humanity it is also committing.

I recently saw a film by Mira Nair called The Reluctant Fundamentalist that shows how even the most pro-American individual can become radicalised in the face of these contradictions. I urge Obama and his advisors to watch it.
Meanwhile, I was disheartened to learn that Médecins San Frontières (MSF) is pulling out of Somalia due to increasing attacks against its workers. MSF decided to take this action after it discovered that some Somali authorities were supporting or condoning the recent lethal attacks on its staff. The convicted killer of two MSF workers, for instance, was freed after serving only three months of a 30-year sentence.
This is unfortunate, because of all the international NGOs, MSF stood out as one that had a real impact on the ground. MSF stayed in Somali even at the height of the civil war when international humanitarian organisations were re-locating to Nairobi. MSF stayed in Somalia throughout its twenty-year civil war and its more than 1,500 medical staff has treated hundreds of thousands of patients in that country who have no access to medical facilities. If MSF is not safe in Somalia, then what hope is there for investors?
The Somali authorities need to woo MSF back, especially now that there is a possibility of a polio outbreak in Somalia.
Rasna Warah is an analyst and commentator based in Nairobi. rasna. warah@gmail.com

source: The citizen