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conflicts between the middle east and the US
u.s. involvement with the middle east
u.s. involvement with the middle east
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Give Peace a Chance
Since the horrible tragedy that occurred on September 11th, Americans are brainstorming for ideas on how to fight terrorism. Minds are collaborating on what can be done to reconcile the West in the minds of Islamic nations. Many strategies for attaining peace have been introduced, and steps are being made toward the appeasement of differences. The ideas for peacemaking that have already been set in motion will be discussed in Section 1, and new suggestions for reconciliation will be introduced in Section 2.
SECTION 1:
Both political and private associations in the United States have introduced wonderful ideas that have begun the process of reconciliation between Islam and the West.
In the political faction, Bush visited a mosque after the terrorist attacks to show support for American Muslims. He declared that terrorism "is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace-they represent evil and war." (http://www.beliefnet.com/). This act gained Bush the support of American Muslims who had been persecuted since the attacks. It also served as a testimony for other Muslim countries that this war was not a religious matter. Unfortunately, since Bush's demonstration, Osama bin Laden has misled Muslims into believing this is indeed a jihad. In a speech he gave on November 3rd, he declares, "It is a question of faith, not a war against terrorism, as Bush and Blair try to depict it" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/).
One of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants explained, "The root of terrorism is in the conflict in Palestine." It is believed that if war stops in the Middle East, more than half the battle of ending terrorism is won. Previously, the United States has sided with the Israelites over the Palestinians. Secretary of State Colin Powell made a speech indicating that Bush is taking a more diplomatic stance in bringing peace to the Middle East. Instead of being exceedingly pro-Israel, the speech was directed at both sides and created an emotional appeal each could relate to (New York Times Nov. 15th). This new position will allow each side to feel comfortable in the negotiation process and will hopefully get a step closer to peace.
When the United Stated defeated the Taliban, it gained the respect of Afghanis. Although there were a few mis-hits in the bombings, Afghanis realize that all the targets were directed at military sites.
In this book, Friedman presents a coherent picture of forces in the Middle East that have led to the Israeli- Palestinian confrontation and to bin Laden and his group of terrorists. Friedman’s articles describe meetings, discussions, and arguments he had with people at all levels of society through out the Middle East. From his extensive travels and through dynamic interactions with the people he derived intense insights into how 9/11 came about, why, and what should be done about it.
Goodstein, Laurie. "Across Nation, Mosque Projects Meet Opposition." The New York Times 7 August 2010: 1. Web. 17 November 2013. .
The continuing successful and attempted terrorist attacks in the USA and the endless wars and conflicts in which we are involved are a manifestation of political, economical and imperialistic failures in Arab lands. This was supported by Western society with the United States as the largest of powers. Instability, oppression, poverty and political alienation that the citizens of many Islamic-Arab nations experienced within the last hundred years have led to major hatred of the United States by the people of many Arab nations. These sources of hatred can be viewed as remote causes of the endless terror attacks and conflicts around the globe. Through the analysis of these causes, it is possible to find ways to avoid such incidents of terror by solving the problem at the source.
On September 11, 2001, the most disastrous terrorist attack in U.S. history left a countless number of innocent Americans both dead and missing. The Taliban’s assault on the Pentagon and annihilation of New York’s World Trade Center caused the entire country to wonder what was going on in the rest of the world to cause so much animosity toward our great nation. Little did many American citizens know that this shocking catastrophe was the result of years of unrest and chaos in the Middle East. The tragic events of September 11th occurred as a result of the recent, political history of Afghanistan, the development of the radical Islamic group, the Taliban, and the monetary and military support that the Taliban has received.
Christianity has been in America since the Colonial Era (1600’s - 1700’s), and for over three centuries has dominated and deeply engrained itself into American Society . Islam, however, has only been introduced recently, and this has caused Islamic Believers (or Muslims) residing in America to be misinterpreted. After the September 11 bombings in 2001, there was a huge hatred for Muslims as they were interpreted as a religion that promotes destruction in the name of ‘Jihad’, or as it is often mistranslated as ‘Holy war’ . Although, the meaning of ‘Jihad’ is much wider than just ‘Holy war’, it is an internal struggle, within each Muslim, “…to be a good Muslim as well as advance the cause of Islam.” The Western understanding of ‘jihad’ however has been twisted to become related to terrorism. Whereas, Christians claim to promote the qualities of hard-work, honesty and moderation, and are therefore highly thought of in American Society, not only because of their supposed all encompassing teachings, but also because of their dominance as a religion in the Western World.
The topic of peace has been on the mind of historians, political leaders, and the general public for as long as our history has been recorded. Will there ever be peace in the Middle East? Will the age old battles, both foreign and domestic ever end? This question, pondered on throughout decades of Western civilization, has both a simple answer and a complex reasoning. To even begin to uncover the answer, one must understand the conflict and its deeply rooted origins to even draw a hypothesis of the outcome. We must first venture into the guarded minds of radical Muslims, our coalition forces, and the minds of the non-violent Muslims who seek liberation from the grip of evil. We must delve into the history of the Islamic world, the tales of the Jihads, and attempt to understand the motivations beneath.
Over the span of recorded history, humankind has inflicted horrors upon itself. Attempts at ending these brutal conflicts usually involved a great deal of violence; problem solving entailed an “off with his head” approach. We would like to think that we are better than that today, but look no further than newspaper headlines to see that human behavior has not come very far since the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, there has been a positive development in modern day problem solving that Pruitt and Kim (2004) call “reconciliation” (p. 218). Simply put, this is the process of relationship repair. The importance of this theory cannot be understated. Reconciliation of divided people and societies is vital to preventing the reoccurrence of violence and building long-term, sustainable peace (Sustainable reconciliation, 2013). If people do not reconcile, conflicts will continue to arise time after time after time.
Many non-muslims after 9/11 have judged and criticized Muslims for their ethnic, religion, and the Islamic terrorist groups in America. (4) Surprisingly, most Muslim Americans in our population are completely against Isis. Together as a country, we must create more unity and peace within Muslim communities in the United States. Building Mosques for Muslims is a great way to bring communities together! A Mosque is a Muslim place of worship like a church. (1) The first Mosque structure built in America, was in North Dakota, 1929.”The number of Mosques built in the United States has risen up to seventy-four percent since 2000 and there are over two-thousand Mosques built today. (1) “Mosques help Muslims integrate in U.S. society, and in fact have a very productive role in bridging the differences between Muslims and non-Muslims in the United States.” Mosques encourage social and political speech. (5) “Many American Muslim leaders and non-Muslim organizations have spoke out against terrorism and extremist violence.” Working together to prevent terrorism plays an important factor in uniting Muslims and non-Muslims. American will continue to help increase unity with Muslims and non-Muslims across our
Ever since September 11, 2001 Americans along with the majority of the world’s population have been skeptical of Muslims. It’s a sad reality but it’s hard for people to think of a Muslim without linking them directly to terrorism. But these assumptions aren’t totally out of the blue—the Muslim’s religion, Islam, teaches a low tolerance for other religions and the Islamic government has no separation of church and state, so it’s only normal to assume that their government shall have a low tolerance as well—some however, immediately translate this into terrorism. Through the Islamic government and religion, relations with foreign countries, and separation amongst themselves it can be concluded that Islamic Fundamentalism is clearly a threat to political stability.
For most Americans the events of September 11, 2001 remain vivid in their memories. When asked, those who were old enough to remember can recall exactly where they were when they heard the news of planes crashing into prominent buildings in New York and the United States’ capital. Later the public would be told that these attacks were deliberate acts of terror against the United States by a group called al-Qaeda. This realization resulted in some Americans having feeling of anger towards those who practiced Islam, and even in some extreme cases these feelings even lead to violence (http://www.history.com/topics/reaction-to-9-11). Feeling of animosity towards religion of Islam did not quickly disappear. On September 11, 2005 Pastor Dr. Marc Monte conducted a message entitled, “Is Islamic Terrorism Islamic?” In this sermon he states,
When looking at individual events it is important to consider the facts rather than the assumptions and swayed opinions that come to us through the news and other media sources. It is easy to make connections between religions and events that occur due to extremists from that religion but in order to fully understand the nature of terrorism events all details need to be considered. Passing judgments about an entire religion based off the actions of few only adds to social issues that rule events like this in the first place. An article published by the IDSA entitled Terrorism, Ideology and Misconceptions, they write, “however, in our times, Islam is often being portrayed in association with violence, aggression and terrorism. This is largely due to the media, both national and international, which has constantly depicted Muslims in such stereotypical ways”. This quote demonstrates the power that the actions of few have over the impression of
As the theoretical consideration I mention above, my hypothesis would be that people’s economic condition (poverty) has no direct relationship with people’s participation and support for terrorism. As I mention above, people cannot determine the exact role poverty plays in determining terrorism. For example, educational level can work as a cofounding variable between poverty and terrorism since low educational level can both cause poverty and terrorism according to some studies. Also it is very hard for us to determine the position of political variables. For example, political repression and instability can both cause poverty and terrorism. As political instability increases, poverty and terrorism both increase. Under this circumstance,
Since the attacks on the world trade center back in 2001, it had consequently pushed the thorn deeper into the American views toward the people of the Middle East. As thousands of people die and as millions watched the once prominent twin towers collapsed into dust and rubble, their hatred toward the Muslims and ultimately the religion they practiced, Islam, had intensified. With this hatred comes the words and actions of hate, therefore millions are now suffering a new kind of weapon, millions of Muslims are now suffering under the harsh words and violent actions that are being targeted to them. The influences of the prejudices had spread greatly across the nation. As each year passed, more and
...ctual demand of terrorism will consummate the underlying issue ("International Affairs"). Though the United States cannot currently “win the hearts and minds of the Middle East in the short run”, we can take immediate action that will contribute to the end of terrorism and stabilization of the Middle East.
On September 11 2001, one of the worst terrorist attacks hit the United States when American airlines were hijacked by members of Al Qaeda and flown into the World Trade Center in New York City killing thousands of civilians. But what some people may not know is that the terrorist attacks are not just one way, rather they are reciprocated between the two countries. Ron Paul, a former American congressman argues that America is part of the reason this attack occurred and how we motivated it to happen. At a campaign that took place almost ten years after 9/11, so 2011, a man asked Paul how terrorist groups would react if the U.S. removed its military presence in Middle Eastern nations and he responded by saying “I don’t see Islam as our enemy, I see that motivation is occupation and those who hate us and would like to kill us, they are motivated by our invasion of their land, the support of their dictators that they hate.” In this quote he is saying with Americans being stationed in their home state, they feel threatened and dishonored by the United States. This is an example of an American citizen who is part of the government claiming that it is not one minded. Another example is the new terrorist group called ISIS, or the Islamic state. Although many people believe this