Speakers Criticize US Foreign Policy

Speakers Criticize US Foreign Policy

The Emory Wheel
9/14/2004

Speakers criticize U.S. foreign policy, discuss future of Islamic relations

By Drew Paul Executive Staff Writer September 17, 2004

Just over three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a panel of speakers gathered in Cox Hall on Monday to discuss the future of American foreign policy toward the Muslim world.

The panel at the event, entitled “Hope, Not Hate: An Atlanta Town Hall Meeting on US-Islamic World Relations,” offered heavy criticism of current policies.

About 100 students and faculty attended the panel discussion, which was sponsored by the international nonpartisan group Americans for Informed Democracy and was co-sponsored by the Emory Political Review and the Emory Center for Ethics.

Panelist Deanne West, a peace, security and U.S. foreign policy program manager at the Atlanta-based National Center for Human Rights Education, encouraged the United States to stop what she considers human rights violations in Iraq.

“Human rights can never be used as justification for war and occupation,” she said.

West also said the United States should conduct a more even-handed foreign policy and “learn to condemn terrorism in all of its forms,” including when it is committed by allies such as Israel.

“We must work hard to be a responsible global partner and lead by example,” she said.

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University, said that since World War II the United States has claimed to promote democracy but has failed to back its affirmations with action.

“Democracy is basically a shibboleth that we put on the table to justify our own policy,” he said.

Instead, he said, the United States has often supported tyrannical regimes in order to promote stability and prevent the spread of communism.

“The Cold War created a tendency of shortsightedness and narrow-mindedness in U.S. foreign policy,” he said.

Waqas Khwaja, chair of the Agnes Scott College English department, drew comparisons between past European and American imperialism and current problems.

Because of America’s history of imperialism, he said, much of the world is skeptical of American foreign policy goals.

“Do we want the world to trust us?” Khwaja asked. “The history is not very good.”

Gordon Newby, chair of Emory’s Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, said the notion of a clash of civilizations between the West and Islam is overly simplistic and does not account for the many Muslims who reside in Europe and North America.

“If [the clash of civilizations] is true,” he said, “the clash is with ourselves.”

He said both the U.S. government and the American public lack a proper understanding of the Muslim world’s points of view.

“Both our officials in our government and the public in general are reluctant to listen to other voices,” Newby said. “When we close our ears and our eyes, we do so at our own peril.”