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Ironies in Obama’s U.N. Address

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"As Washington teams up with autocratic regimes–some of which notoriously use the cover of their faith to justify unfair policies–the United States may have credibility problems among the very people it hopes to help," writes Robin Wright.

In his United Nations address, President Barack Obama had a tough-love message for the Islamic world: Grow up. Share power. And deliver the goods to your people so they won’t be attracted to extremism.

The United States is leading the military campaign to confront a new tide of extremism, but the president laid the onus of ending a global threat on the regimes in the Islamic world, especially the Middle East. Left unsaid was the ironic fact that several of those autocratic countries are participating in the new coalition against the Islamic State.

“It is time for the world–especially Muslim communities–to explicitly, forcefully, and consistently reject the ideology of  organizations like al Qaeda and ISIL,” Obama said. “Ultimately, the task of rejecting sectarianism and rejecting extremism is a generational task–and a task for the people of the Middle East themselves. No external power can bring about a transformation of hearts and minds.”

The president got quite prescriptive, especially about the unjust practices of Muslim governments in handling their young. The Middle East has, proportionately, the world’s largest baby-boom generation. The Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 were all triggered by youth movements.

“If young people live in places where the only option is between the dictates of a state, or the lure of an extremist underground, then no counterterrorism strategy can succeed,” Mr. Obama said. “But where a genuine civil society is allowed to flourish–where people can express their views, and organize peacefully for a better life–then you dramatically expand the alternatives to terror.”

The five Muslim countries that participated in the opening salvo of airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria are all monarchies with troubled human rights records: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan. Despite their oil wealth, the youth unemployment rate is more than 27% in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, according to the World Bank. In Jordan, the only non-oil country, almost one in three young people is unemployed, deepening the sense of alienation and political exclusion.

Mr. Obama spoke directly to the young about their “extraordinary potential,” deliberately urging them to separate their political frustrations from their faith.

“You come from a great tradition that stands for education, not ignorance; innovation, not destruction; the dignity of life, not murder. Those who call you away from this path are betraying this tradition, not defending it,” he said. The comment was unusual in its direct outreach and pitch.

Mr. Obama also called on Muslim countries to do far more to empower their women, the second-most dynamic engine of change in the Middle East, largely because of increasing levels of education that do not match the low level of women’s rights.

“Where women are full participants in a country’s politics or economy, societies are more likely to succeed,” Mr. Obama said. “And that’s why we support the participation of women in parliaments and peace processes, schools and the economy.”

Again, ironically, some Gulf monarchies participating in the coalition have draconian records on women’s rights.

Women still can’t drive in Saudi Arabia, where only 18% of the female population is in the labor force, according to the latest World Bank numbers. The rate is only 15% in Jordan.

As he had done in speeches in Egypt and Turkey during his first term, Mr. Obama said that the people of the Middle East should not confuse America’s military action against Islamic State militants and other al Qaeda offshoots with U.S. respect for the Islamic faith.

“The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Islam teaches peace. Muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice. And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them; there is only us–because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country.”

But as Washington teams up with autocratic regimes–some of which notoriously use the cover of their faith to justify unfair policies–the United States may have credibility problems among the very people it hopes to help.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.

The original article was published in The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire. 

About the Author

Robin Wright image

Robin Wright

USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Fellow;
Author and columnist for The New Yorker
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Middle East Program

The Wilson Center’s Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform US foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  Read more