Al-Shorouq, Egypt, January 9
There are certainly many accusations that could be made against the United States, but the following isn’t one of them: that Washington is plotting against the Arab world. This is because plotting involves secretly designing and executing a plan. However, if there is one thing American foreign policy has taught so far it is that the United States is not very good about keeping its plans secret. When the American administration plans on doing something, it always announces its intention first. This policy has been visible in the case of Syria, where President Obama explicitly claimed that the United States would remain uninvolved. Indeed, despite the heavy human toll inflicted upon the civilian population of Syria by Bashar al-Assad —including the use of chemical weapons — President Obama refrained from intervening militarily on the ground. The problem with our anger at the United States’ foreign policy is, therefore, not the result of American deception or dishonesty, but rather with our failure to listen to what is explicitly said to us. Take another example: in 2005, then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke of allowing a “creative chaos” to unfold in the Middle East. According to this doctrine, the United States would allow its biggest enemies in the region – namely, Iran and Hizbullah – immerse themselves in difficult wars that would weaken them. Accordingly, the lack of American assistance to its closest allies during the Arab Spring revolutions was simply a continuation of this “creative chaos” policy in the region; not a blindside. Here, too, we wouldn’t have been surprised had we listened more carefully. Therefore, is there is anything we can learn from our mistakes it is this: we must listen more carefully to what the Americans are saying. We might not like what we hear. We might not agree with it. But at the end of the day, the Americans play by the book. What they say is what they do — nothing more, nothing less. The ball is in our court. – Faisel al-Qasem