The Layalina Review
VOL. V NO. 10, April 24-May 7, 2009 The West and the Muslim world each experience anxiety regarding the other; however, these fears are illegitimate and unfounded according to Juan Cole, reports The Philadelphia Bulletin. The mutually negative feelings that have been reported between the American and British publics and Muslims show that the West is highly prejudiced against Muslims, based on fear and mistrust. Muslims report a dismay in Western culture and its lack of commitment to forming more amicable relations. Cole argues that the West’s anxiety is based on a fear that the Middle East is developing full control over oil and gas resources and on a confusion of democratically based political Islam and radical Islam. Additionally, Cole argues that US involvement in the Muslim world cannot be successful in the long run, arguing, “The Arab street, given the choice between an autocratic but autonomous government not bound to the Christian capitalist West, and a democratic state under the sway of foreign governments, would choose the former.” Dan Froomkin of The Washington Post posits that the resentment towards Muslims has been fodder for the justification of torture techniques condoned by the Bush Administration after the 9/11 attacks in order to create a link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Froomkin suggests that torture was used specifically because it leads to false confessions, citing Army Major Paul Burney who told investigators, “even though they were giving information and some of it was useful, while we were there a large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq and we were not being successful in establishing a link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq. Froomkin writes that consensus on the torture cases was reached because nobody involved investigated the gruesome techniques that they were approving, and, as a former CIA official said, it was “a perfect storm of ignorance and enthusiasm.” Such “ignorance and enthusiasm” regarding the Muslim world is being combated by a group of student leaders at Princeton University. A conference called Visions and Revisions: Charting a Common Future for the US and the Arab World, brought together 15 students from the Middle East to explore and discuss issues ranging from politics to culture to human rights. The conference included presentations, lectures and cultural events with the aim to “cultivate knowledge and empathy and also lay the groundwork for collaborative leadership between student leaders from diverse backgrounds and religions, said senior Zvi Smith. A Lebanese student from the American University of Beirut, Youssef Yaacoub, said “It was very touching that the students here have taken the time to really understand our culture and our point of view. When I came here I discovered that there are many, many things that people from the Middle East think about Americans - and a lot of things that Americans think about us - that aren't true, said Neama Ebaid, a student at the American University in Cairo. Now that we have a better understanding about where people in the US may be coming from, we can communicate this to other students back in the Middle East.
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