The nations that currently comprise the Middle East were formed as a direct result of Western intervention following World War I. In many cases, these arbitrary national boundaries do not coincide with the ethnic, religious and political identities of the people who live in them.
This, combined with the fact that the concept of a nation-state was only introduced — forcibly — about 80 years ago, is somewhat to blame for the continual unrest in many of these young countries. We can no longer afford to consider the region in terms of separate nation-states. This is not Europe, where people have developed national identities over centuries of common experience. If we’re headed for war, we need to study the peoples who live in the area.
Take Lebanon, for example. The Maronites, a Christian people with some ties to Catholicism, originally accounted for roughly half of the population; Muslims comprised the other half. The government was arranged accordingly, with political power divided in two. In more recent times, Muslims became much more populous than the Maronites, and their attempt to gain more political control resulted in war. Add to the mix another religious community, the Mowahhidoon, or Druse, who are neither Muslim nor Christian — the exact beliefs of the Druse are kept secret — and you can see that political stability would be difficult.
But wait! We’re not done! There are two main groups of Muslims: The Shiite and the Sunni. The Sunni are more wealthy, more educated and dominate positions of power and prestige. This inequality is also a source of conflict. These domestic conflicts are often much more of a threat to the livelihood of the average resident of the Middle East, and as a result often take precedence over issues of national relevance.
In the war between Iran and Iraq during the mid-’80s, the Reagan administration switched sides repeatedly and saw fit to sell arms to both countries. Both blamed the unsatisfactory conclusion on the United States and claimed they would have won if America had not intervened.
And let’s not forget the continued support the United States provides Israel. In a recent comprehensive poll, published by the Washington Post, Arabs in general listed the rights of Palestinians as the third most important political concern in their lives. Rest assured that all Arabs opposed to the Zionist movement have no illusions as to where Israel gets its state-of-the-art planes, tanks and missiles. In the same poll, Arabs were found to “have a strongly negative overall view of the United States based largely on American policy toward the region.”
According to the Associated Press, there are around 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and this continued occupation is creating unrest. This fact, combined with the United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia failing to deliver a promised $180 million in aid could make an opposition movement in Afghanistan a real and dangerous threat.
Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden before him, both make exceptional poster children for military action in the Middle East.
One man is accredited with assassinating his own relatives, gassing his own citizens and repeatedly attacking his neighbors. The other is charged with several acts of terrorism against America, the latest of which resulted in nearly 3,000 civilian casualties.
But for lasting peace to be possible in this region, Western powers must come to better understand the people who live in it. I don’t want to pick up an M-16 and go charging across the sand dunes until I know exactly what it is I am charging into. If drafted, I would go to war with Iraq, or al-Qaeda , or whomever, but I don’t want to die because Bush was too busy babbling about “evil” to do his homework.