Weekly Trust (Kaduna)
PAul Wolfowitz
1 July 2002
This is the same Confucian tradition that more recently has been given a substantial share of the credit for the success of the Korean economy and many others in Asia.
There is every reason to believe that Indonesia, with its own traditions and culture, can move forward as South Korea has because when people are free to work and keep what they produce, they work hard and organize creatively. And if we are serious about opposing terrorism, we also must be serious about helping Indonesia in its quest for a stable democracy and a stable economy.
Likewise in the Arab world, we must support countries that are struggling to make progress. In what may prove to be one of the most significant-though not well known-developments in the Muslim world today, the king of Morocco has established a Royal Commission to reform the laws pertaining to women. And, although a monarchy, Morocco has held open elections for the parliament and is preparing to do so again. It is no accident that the King of Morocco has spoken out strongly against terrorism.
In Pakistan, we see a country that has much further to go, but possibly has more at stake in this fight against terrorism than any other. And no leader has taken greater risks or faces more daunting challenges from within and without, than President Musharraf. Pakistan's success will be a success for us all in the fight against terrorism and we must continue to support this leader ...and his country.
Jordan is another Muslim country that is making one of the largest contributions to the
coalition in Afghanistan. And its courageous king, Abdullah, has condemned terrorism in
clear and heart-felt language.
Not long ago, Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, one of the son's of the founder of the Saudi monarchy, speaking of his own country and the Arab world, addressed the imperative for change, saying: "We need movement because the world is changing and the world around us is changing. Kuwait has elections, Qatar has communal elections, there's change in Bahrain, Oman, Yemen The system has to progress and evolve."
Strikingly, by the way, even in a portion of Iraq -in the Kurdish-controlled areas in the North -we see an example of the kind of self-government Muslims can achieve. There, beyond the reach of the Baghdad regime, the people are healthy and they enjoy a level of prosperity that far surpasses the rest of Iraq. People there can speak their minds, newspapers are printing news freely, and posters representing candidates on all sides of the political spectrum go up everywhere. Even though this area is under the same sanctions as the rest of Iraq, its people are doing far better economically.
Up to this point, I've talked mostly about governments making progress. But to make real progress, we must reach out beyond governments to individuals. They after all, are the real focal point of liberal democracy and the true engines of change.
To win the war against terrorism and in so doing, help shape a more peaceful world, we must speak to the hundreds of millions of moderate and tolerant people in the Muslim world, regardless of where they live, who aspire to enjoy the blessings of freedom and democracy and free enterprise. These are sometimes described as "Western values," but, in fact, they are universal.
We need to recognize that the terrorists target not only us but also their fellow Muslims, upon whom they aim to impose a medieval, intolerant and tyrannical way of life. Those hundreds of millions of Muslims who aspire to the freedom and prosperity that Americans enjoy are, in many cases, on the frontlines of the struggle against terrorism. We in the West have an obligation to help them - and a self-interest in doing so. By helping them to stand against the terrorists without fear, we help ourselves. We help to lay the foundations for the just and peaceful world that the President envisions after the war against terror has been won.
It would be a mistake to think we could be the ones to lead the way, but we must do what we can to encourage the moderate Muslim voices that can. This is a debate about Muslim values that must take place among Muslims. But, it makes a difference when we recognize and encourage those who are defending universal values. And, when we help give them moral support against the opposition they encounter, we are indeed helping to lay the foundations for peace.
Fouad Ajami, one of our leading scholars of the Arab world, wrote recently in The New York Times about what he called the "stridency and anti-Americanism" now dominating portions of the Arab media. "There's a war on the battlefield," he .wrote, "and that is America's to win. But the repair of the Arab political condition and the weaning of the Arab world away from radicalism-is a burden and a task for the Arabs themselves. The only thing America can do is make sure it never gives this radicalism a helping hand."
I recently asked for some information about leading libera11slamic thinkers, who they are, and what they are saying. I received a memo that contained some promising and useful information. It described in detail several Muslim thinkers who arc arguing for freedom of thought, a democratic and humanist Muslim state, a modern liberal interpretation of the Koran. It was heartening to see such a good analysis. What was disheartening, was the fact that this memo was several years old. If the most recent memo we have on these brave advocates of freedom of thought dates back to the 1990s, someone must have decided that these people aren't very important. But they are extremely important, not just to the Arab world, but to us as well. They are essential to bridging the dangerous gap between the West and the Muslim world.
We must become more attentive to the moderate voices in the Muslim world, for the better we are at encouraging them, the more effective we can be, as the President put it, in "leading the world toward those values that will bring lasting peace."
I know from my experiences that there are serious discussions going on among Muslims throughout the world, who want to move the Muslim world away from extremism and into the modem world. In Indonesia, I once attended part of an all-day seminar on the thought of Ibn Rushd a medieval Muslim scholar who championed the compatibility of reason and religion.
This was not just an academic discussion among intellectuals. I met a young Indonesian police officer who was attending the seminar, not out of an obscure interest in a long-dead philosopher, but to try to understand better the relation between his faith and modem science. This is just one of many instances where one can discover that a serious debate is underway about how devout Muslims can also be a part of a modern, secular society. So, if we can encourage this debate, we, in fact, marshal our forces. The first place we must look for allies is with governments already embarked on the path towards freedom and justice. But we must also reach out beyond governments, good ones as well as bad, to individuals as well. We must work to appeal to a broad population, as well as the voices struggling to rise above the din of extremism, voices that tell us the Islam of Muhammed is not the religion of bin Laden and suicide bombers
And, unfortunately, despite Islam's ancient tradition of tolerance, there are individuals today who are coming under ideological and even physical attack for defending tolerance. UCLA law Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl has pointed out that in Islam's first century and a half, 135 schools of law existed to give Islam so much of its cu1tural dynamism. Today, with so much learning from those and later schools dismissed as sinful, he fears that perhaps "we are in the dark ages of Islam."
But, the shrill rhetoric of extremism threatens to drown out such observations. Between his junior and senior years at Yale, Abou El Fadl was arrested in his home in the Middle East, where he was finishing his final ijazas, and thrown in jail without apparent reason. He was released two weeks later, but only after suffering severe beatings. Even here in America, he has received threats and denunciations when he has spoken out.
At the World Economic Forum in February, Shafeeq Ghabra, a Kuwaiti resident of Palestinian origin, then head of the Kuwait Information Office in Washington, appeared on a panel that included two former Israeli officials, well-known for their roles in supporting the peace process. What Ghabra terms a "modest deed" set off a fire storm in Kuwait on the part of those, in Ghabra's words, "who have turned Islam into a political ideology." He was condemned by groups in Kuwait for his participation, and it led to attacks in the Kuwaiti press on secular Kuwaitis in general.
When the American Shayk Muhammed Hisham Kabbani, a noted Muslim scholar, spoke at a State Department-sponsored panel on terrorism in January, 1999, he addressed what he called the "authentic, traditional voice of Islam... which is moderation and tolerance and love and living in peace with all other faiths and religions." He went on to caution that there was, at that time, an imminent threat of a catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil by Islamic extremists.
Following his message, some Muslim organizations here in the United States publicly condemned him for "false and defamatory allegations against the Muslim community" and organized a boycott against him. Learning, tolerance, and progress-these are qualities extremists today consider subversive.
The system will progress when we become truly serious about supporting those "brave men and women" who advocate the values of "human dignity, free speech, equal justice, respect for women and religious tolerance" that President Bush spoke of in his January address.
One of the great obstacles to the dream of peace is the continuing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Over these many years, after the sacrifice of so many, it is clear that the solution to this conflict will not be achieved by the force of tanks and bombs. A lasting resolution of this conflict can only come through political means. And the outline of a solution has been clear for some time, and it is based on two fundamental elements: the acknowledgement of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state within secure and recognized boundaries; and, the creation of a Palestinian state that brings to an end Israeli occupation and provides a better life for its citizens and security for its neighbours.
Yesterday, President Bush spoke of a "vision," in his words: "of two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security." This vision, the President went on, "offers the Palestinian people a new opportunity to choose how they live We want to work ...to build a Palestinian state that both lives at peace with Israel and lives up to the best hopes of its people."
Early last month, when President Bush announced that he was sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Middle East, he expressed the hope that this would be a step toward achieving that vision of "two states, living side by side, in peace and security." At the same time, he recognized that achieving this vision will be a difficult process.
As the scenes of suffering and carnage we have witnessed in the Middle East so clearly attest: one of the greatest obstacles to that solution is terrorism: Those who have lived with such violence and hatred question whether they can trust a peace with those who sponsor suicide bombers or make a peace that seems to reward such behaviour. Terrorism is part of the problem-a big part of the problem-not the solution.
After the violence of recent months, one cannot expect a rapid transformation of the situation. But Secretary Powell achieved a great deal in that direction in his trip to the Middle East. He prevented an escalation of the war in Lebanon; he lowered the temperature in the region; and, in doing so, he undoubtedly helped save lives on both sides and started the process of defusing the confrontation in Ramallah.
As it happens, some two weeks ago, I had a vivid experience of the emotions with which Secretary Powell has to deal, albeit mine was on a much smaller scale. Representing President Bush at a rally to show solidarity with the people of Israel and the global war against terrorism, my remarks presented the President's concern for the current situation and the broad range of our policy in the region.
When I pointed out that innocent Palestinians were also dying, I got a negative reaction from some in the audience. Or, to put it more bluntly, I got booed. Or like they say in my old neighbourhood, I got the Bronx cheer. In all seriousness, that experience demonstrated vividly how violence inflames passions.
Our ambassador to Bahrain, Ronald Neumann, had a similar experience with Palestinian supporters while attending a school program in which a student asked those assembled to observe a moment of silence for the Palestinians. Ambassador Neumann suggested they remain standing for the Israeli victims of the suicide bombings. Reports of his remarks fueled strong reactions that included demonstrations. Another illustration of how inflamed passions have become.
For there to be peace, people in positions of authority on all sides must recognize its value. And while we realize that progress may only be made in small steps, there are also times when people must think of making great strides.
When Anwar Sadat traveled to Jerusalem to address Israel's Knesset in 1977, his bold and courageous move was a psychological breakthrough, and the Israeli response was overwhelming. The result was a giant step forward toward peace that has endured to this day.
I didn't understand Arabic at the time, but hearing the sincerity of Sadat's opening words was a powerful and emotional moment for me, and it inspired me to try to learn a little bit of Arabic. 1 even memorized a portion of his address, and developed an appreciation for the power and beauty of the Arabic language. One of the most moving parts was its opening - the way Sadat took the traditional Muslim greeting and turned it to his audience. He said very simply, but eloquently, "Peace be upon you and God's blessing, peace be upon all of us, God willing, peace be upon all of us in the Arab lands and in Israel." It was perhaps the first time an Arab leader had ever uttered the word "Israel" at all, much less in such a profoundly respectful way.
I knew that any language with that kind of power offers hope for the future. And even in English, the power of his words comes through. These lines I recalled at the Capitol. " Any life," said Anwar Sadat, "any life that is lost in war is a human life, be it that of an Arab or an Israeli. Innocent children who are deprived of the care and compassion of their parents are ours. They are ours," the president of Egypt said, "whether - they live in Arab lands or in Israel." And then he made a point that bears reflecting on today. "There are moments in the lives of nations and peoples," he said, "when those who shoulder great responsibilities must have the courage to make decisions that fit the magnitude of the situation and never to forget that infallibility belongs to God alone."
As the son of an immigrant, I have a deep appreciation of how lucky and blessed we all are to live in this country - to live free from persecution and fear. I have long believed that, even more than our vast resources, more than the beauty we see all around us, more than our melting pot culture and our military might, America's greatest power is what it stands for.
Abraham Lincoln knew this, too. A few weeks before he became president, he wrote that, even as a boy, he thought the object for which men had struggled at the founding of this nation was, as he put it, "something even more than national Independence." The object of their great struggle, Lincoln concluded as a young man and firmly believed until his death, "holds out a great promise," he said, "to all the people of the world for all time to come." For people who cherish freedom and seek peace, particularly those who do so in the Middle East, these are difficult times. But, such times can also deepen our understanding of the truth.
This truth we know: that the single greatest threat to peace and freedom in our time is terrorism. So this truth we also affirm: that the future does not belong to the terrorists. The future belongs to those who dream the oldest and noblest dream of all, the dream of peace and freedom.
Wolfowitz is United State's Deputy Defence Secretary.
Concluded
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2002 Weekly Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
