U.S.-Muslim views discussed

by Stephen Majors
Bradenton Herald
Thursday, Sep. 15, 2005

SARASOTA – To commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, New College of Florida students and faculty held a discussion Wednesday to explore the state of U.S.-Muslim relations.

New College anthropology professor Uzi Baram was joined by political science professor Frank Alcock and Ahmed Bedier, the central Florida communications director for the Council on American Islamic Relations.

The meeting was held in cooperation with a non-partisan organization called Americans for Informed Democracy.

About 30 students listened as the three men dissected the fallout of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their effect on how Americans and those in Middle Eastern countries view each other.

Bedier said that American-Muslim relations are on the wrong path, and should be turned around quickly.

He criticized the policies of the Bush administration and encouraged Americans to get beyond simplicities and think about what the reasons behind terrorist activities may be. At the same time, he condemned the use of violence as a political tool.

Bedier said the inconsistencies in the administration’s foreign policy – attacking Iraq, a country that did not have weapons of mass destruction, while trying to engage North Korea diplomatically – send Muslims the message that they are the enemy.

“The people of the Middle East want to have consistency,” Bedier said.

While Bedier encouraged people to consider the “hopeless” state of many Middle Eastern societies as a breeding ground for terrorism, Baram pointed out that many of the 9/11 hijackers were educated at American universities. But many of them, with this education, also were sympathetic to the plight of Muslims who they believed were being persecuted.

Baram explained the conflict from an anthropological perspective, running through different frameworks through which people tried to understand the 9/11 attacks.

There is the simple “us versus them” rationalization, or the idea that Americans and Muslims represent two civilizations with clashing ideas. That idea “faded after a few months because there’s too many Muslims that don’t hate us,” Baram said.

The idea that the terrorists were “nihilists” who killed for no purpose should also be debunked, Baram said, because suicide bombings have accomplished specific goals throughout history. And Osama bin Laden said in response to the attacks that he hoped to achieve the removal of U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia, Baram said.

Finally, Alcock discussed attitudes around the globe about America and American foreign policy. He said there’s a huge disconnect between how Americans perceive the United States, and how the rest of the world perceives the country – which should be disconcerting to people of all political beliefs, he said.

And in the case of the United States’ new policy of trying to bring democracy to Iraq, too many people don’t think America is sincere in its motives to spread true democracy.

New College students Geoffrey Gordon, Oskar Vidaurre and Aaron Phillips, all 18, said they enjoyed the discussion. But they would have liked to have seen a greater diversity of opinions among the panelists. Bedier was too activist in his opinions and not academic enough, they said.