Command the Raven

From Rubin Reports

Why the Terrorist Trial in New York Will Be a Disaster in the Middle East and for U.S. Interests

Posted: 24 Nov 2009 05:26 AM PST

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By Barry Rubin

What will be the impact on the Middle East of putting September 11
plotters on trial in New York? As usual most of the debate in America
revolves around the effect within the United States: how will New York
react, might the defendents get off. But what’s really important, and
largely ignored, is what the trial will mean for the Middle East and
U.S. interests there.

Isn’t it ironic that the Obama Administration, which is more
ethnically and racially diverse probably than any previous U.S.
government, is proving to be so incredibly ethnocentric? By that I
mean, having the least understanding of how other nations and cultures
think and behave.

One possible explanation is that since they see themselves as
non-white or so exceptionally sensitive, such people then take the next
“logical” step and assume that someone from a distant land thinks
precisely the same way as they do. Of course the difference is the
society and world view you grow up in and have to function within in
your life.

Ironically, their own ideology should make them understand this
better in some ways. Take two identical twins separated at birth. One
grows up in a middle class family in the United States and attends the
finest universities. The other grows up in, say, Saudi Arabia.

Now if the racist theory were true, the twins would be exactly
alike! But if multi-cultural, Politically Correct, anti-racism were to
be true, then they would be very different, right? Because the whole
rejection of racism is based on the argument that environment is more
important than inherited traits. Of course, this is a simple
presentation but the basic point holds true.

The Administration’s doctrine also holds that ideas are
all-important. If you change someone’s world view then you can perform
marvels and transform society. So shouldn’t they understand that if
someone believes in Islamism, or at least non-moderate Islam, and Arab
nationalism, and conspiracy theories, etc., that they are also going to
think differently than an American?

In the trial, the terrorists will almost certainly base their
defense on the concept of “defensive Jihad.” They will argue that the
Islamic world was acting in self-defense in retaliating. They will give
a long list of real or alleged American misdeeds, long lists of
civilians killed (in Afghanistan alone they could come up with
thousands), alleged sufferings during the embargo on Iraq when Saddam
Hussein was rejecting his commitments after the Kuwait war.

This defense will inflame large numbers of Muslims. It will provide
a great platform for the defensive Jihad theory which, most recently,
persuaded Major Khalid Hasan to kill 13 American soldiers. There will
be specific terrorist attacks inspired by the speeches made in New
York.  People will join Islamist and terrorist groups, not necessarily
al-Qaida, as a result of this inspiration. You can bet on it.

In addition, the high-profile of the trials could well inspire
terrorists to seize Americans as hostages to exchange for the
imprisoned Jihadists. The terrorists don’t have to expect the United
States to make such a deal. They want the publicity and will be quite
happy to kill the hostages and blame it on the Americans’ stubborness.

The Arab regimes won’t like it because the defendants will spend a
lot of time blasting Egypt and Saudi Arabia as American puppets and
urge their overthrow. Of course, the terrorists will bring in Israel,
too. It will be interesting to see how much time is devoted to each of
the many topics they will use to attack America.

Naively, the Administration apparently believes that this show of
American fair play, equal justice for all, innocent until proven
guilty, trial by a jury of their peers (if the entire jury isn’t
Muslim, of course, most Middle East Muslims won’t accept that notion),
and the rules of evidence will impress Muslims worldwide about how
great a system the United States has and what great people Americans
are.

Yes, a few highly educated Arab liberals will write about such
things but that will appeal to less than five percent. By the time the
trial is through the masses to a large extent will not conclude that
the defendents are dastardly people who murdered 3,000 innocent victims
but that the prosecutors and the government behind them are dastardly
villains who have murdered millions.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International
Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of
International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The
Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The
Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth
About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books. To see or subscribe to his blog, Rubin Reports.