Tarnished image of US within Islamic World

The News, Sun, September,19, 2004.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema



The Americans are not the only one who is facing an acute image problem. There are many countries that are confronted with this type of problem. Images are tarnished primarily because of three major reasons. First, if the policies of incumbent administration are based on highhandedness that tend to flout the accepted civilised norms and principles governing the international community along with forceful pursuit of unjust interests, the image automatically get tarnished though the time frame varies from situation to situation. Second major source of tarnished image revolves around adversary’s concerted effort to malign the target country. Third, lack of proper comprehension of the target culture and consequent policies based on scant information and distorted views.

Ms Condoleezza Rice’s speech to US Institute of Peace reveals the intensification of realization that the US policy towards the Islamic world is indeed flawed. Her suggestion that Washington should do more to better organize its public diplomacy regarding the Islamic world amounts to not just recognizing the poor understanding of the Muslim societies but also indicates the growing need to improve its overall image in the Islamic world.

While there is a dire need to improve America’s understanding of Muslim cultures and societies, to treat what has recently tarnished its image deserve befitting treatment. Why the American image has taken a steep dive downward after the tragic events of 9/11? Many reasons account for accelerated tarnishing of US image in the Islamic world. These can be grouped into two categories, the immediate and the long term reasons.

Among the immediate development that are frequently highlighted include the irrational policies pursued after 9/11, viewing all Muslims as terrorists, large scale arrests and humiliation of the Muslims in US, invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. The policies pursued immediately after the tragic events of 9/11 appeared to be formulated in haste and without having properly thought through in terms of long and short term impact.

Following 9/11 the American policies generated the impression that the Muslims in general are viewed as suspects. In fact it would not be too far fetched to assume that some in the incumbent administration reportedly generated the impression that they view almost all Muslims as terrorists. Not only the US administration toughened their attitude towards the American Muslims but also imposed new restrictions and made new regulations. The obvious target of these regulations was the American Muslims and the Muslim visitors under the new rules of the INS. In consequence many American Muslims opted to move out of the US either to other countries or to their country of origin. A large number of Muslim students began to look for alternative educational institutions.

The Muslim visitors were also subjected to humiliating treatments under INS. Many Muslims who have to visit US for one reason or the other began to serious curtail their intended visits. The humiliating treatment accorded to some visitors from the Muslim societies especially those who had gone to either participate in some seminar of short term assignment effectively deterred those who were intending to make such visits. The stories about uncivilized treatment extended to respectable citizens of many Muslim countries took a heavy toll of American image. Apart from those Muslims who venture out of their countries in order to secure some source of earnings, extremely few thinking individuals within the Muslim societies would entertain the notion of visiting US especially those who are aware of the harsh treatment normally accorded to Muslim visitors.  

One of the major prescriptive doses that was administer to the Americans in order to pacify their anger which was legitimately aroused by the tragic events of 9/11 was the invasion of Afghanistan. The invasion of Afghanistan and consequent devastating bombing that was undertaken to flush out militants left a deep mark on the Muslims of the region as well as upon those living far away from Afghanistan. Not only the most sophisticated weapons were used in conquering Afghanistan but the indiscriminate bombing badly destroyed the already fragile infrastructure. The stories about the bombing of wedding parties also left a deep impact upon many Muslims living both inside as well as outside Afghanistan.

After the conquest of Afghanistan with the support of a local minority group, Americans took many Afghans as prisoners and sent them to American prison at Guantanamo Bay where they were subjected to inhuman treatment. Reportedly they were not extended any kind of concession which was ordinarily extended to other prisoners. It was only after the concerted efforts of many activists of human rights organizations that the Americans began to allow what should have been extended in the first place.  Besides the slow progress in the reconstruction of Afghanistan also took a heavy toll of the American image especially if viewed within the context of promises made at meetings in Japan and Germany.

Perhaps the major development that has blackened the American image in recent times is the US invasion of Iraq and subsequent developments in Iraq.  Despite the concerted efforts of American led coalition, the peace seems to be far away. The Iraq invasion was undertaken without the expressed approval of the United Nations though much later efforts were made to bring in the UN especially in its reconstructive phase. The civil war that rages on inside Iraq continues to tarnish American image. In addition, the revelation of inhuman treatment that was extended to the Iraqi prisoners by the American soldiers at Abu Garaib prison also contributed substantially towards the blackening of its image.

The long term factors that have been contributing their share over the time include being a super power, abandoning the allies, half hearted policy-pursuits, policies towards Palestine and Kashmir. Perhaps the unprecedented rise in Anti-American sentiments is really the product of US policies regarding the Palestine-Israel question and ready acceptance of Indian policies on Kashmir. The blind support of Israeli and Indian state terrorism has very badly damaged the American image.

Cognizant of American attitude and policies, the Israelis have perpetrated injustice to its maximum limits and still continue to do so. The American muted reactions over what Israel does (desecration of religious places, massacres, target killings, destruction of Palestinians homes, gross violation of human rights, disregard for both the UN resolution and ICJ’s ruling on Israeli constructed wall etc.) continuously blackens the US image. In many Arab countries the prevalent belief is that most of US policies towards Arab countries are heavily influenced by the influential Israeli lobbies in US. The former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahatir also referred to this factor.

Similarly the inability of the Americans to come out openly against the atrocities perpetrated against the innocent Kashmiris and refusal to put the blame on Indian security forces blatant violations of what are considered to be civilised norms does not generate good image. While completely ignoring what the Indian security forces are doing in Kashmir, the Americans appeared to have opted to believe what India says and blame for Pakistan of cross border terrorism. Despite government of Pakistan’s assurances that it is doing everything to plug infiltrations along with many sensible and thinking Indians’ utterances that infiltrations has been effectively and drastically reduced, the American have not yet come down hard on India for its continuous killings of the innocent Kashmiris.

While one has to admit that a super power is bound to experience problems and difficulties on many fronts. This indeed is a price that has to be paid by being a super power. However it is a well established fact that in a uni-polar world, the sole super power has to be much more responsible than what has been so far demonstrated by the US. A super power is expected to behave with dignity and support the universally recognised principles as well as organizations in order to lead the world. The savage and single minded pursuit of one’s own national interests disregarding universally accepted civilised norms is unlikely to improve the image.

Not only the policies need to be thoroughly thought through especially in view of its likely global impact but it should also avoid knee jerk reactions and half-hearted pursuits. Following Afghanistan’s invasion, the US began to view all Talibans as bad but later it began to realise that not all Taliban are militants. It began to make distinction between Talibans and Talibans. Similarly after invading Iraq it disbanded all Iraqi soldiers only to realise later that they need the support of Saddam’s soldiers and in consequent secured the help of the same very soldier who were disbanded.  

There is no doubt that Ms Rice appeared to have embarked upon right track. Both the greater understanding of the Muslim cultures and norms governing Islamic societies along with improving American public diplomacy can certainly help in arresting the rapidly deteriorating image of the Americans with the Islamic world. Perhaps the effort that can really and most effectively contribute towards the amelioration of American image revolves around making sincere and genuine efforts to secure just resolution of long standing disputes confronting the Islamic world.