Good Muslim, Bad Muslim Ch.4 Journal
Joshua Burks
October 21, 2008
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim Journal
This past week I was responsible for reading chapter four of Good Muslim, bad Muslim. When I first head the title of the book, I thought that it was going to focus on Muslims. However, it seems that it focused more on the United States and their foreign policy. It also was about how the United States handles itself when dealing with other nations.
My chapter basically talked about the United States post Cold War period. It basically says that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States was the only remaining superpower left. It goes on to say how the United States abused their power as the only remaining superpower. For instance, the United States broke many treaties with other countries because they no longer needed them. It also talks about how the United States abuses it power by forcing members of the United Nations to resign after they call out the United States on their wrong doing. One of the most memorable cases would have to be Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Ghali was an elected member of the UN and with his credentials he went on to become the secretary general of the UN. While serving as secretary general, Ghali criticized the United States for not paying their dues. However, Ghali got under the US’ skin by his plans on releasing the findings of the UN inquiry which implicated Israel in the killings of hundreds of people in a Lebanon Refugee Camp. This fact alone shocks me because in the media, it is all about having pride in a strong mighty nation. But our nation is misusing our power as a super nation for wrong doings.
In class today we discussed how the CIA shipped cocaine to Latin American countries and supported terrorist in those countries in order to overthrow the communist government which were in place. The people or terrorist then would smuggle the cocaine back into the US to sell it on the streets in order to get more money. This is a double standard because here in the US people are locked up almost on a daily basis because of drug possession, many of which comes from across the border. However, we supplied these people with the drugs and yet we act as if we don’t know how they get so many narcotics. This situation could also be classified as hypocritical because how does the US call out other countries for their drug possession when we are the people who originally gave it to them in the first place. This is just crazy but I guess that is the kind of things the government needs to do in order to maintain this country in which so many take pride in.
In Chapter four it also talked about how the US expect other nations to abide by International law, however when it comes to them then the US believes it is above the law and does what it wants. For example, when crimes against humanity occur the US wants those people, usually from other countries, to be charged by the high courts of the UN. However, when the US commits similar crimes it does not let any of its people get trialed by the high UN courts. With myself be an American, I like this principle however if I was from another country the n I could really understand the frustration which many see with this issue. The US should not think of them to be above the law. We are no better than the other countries especially now that I know more about the dirty side of the US. We also stretch the fact of equableness in the US but we are acting like we are above the law.
Another thing mentioned in Chapter four was the relationship between the US and Israel. It talks about how similar the war tactics are. For example when the US decided to go to war, it was supposed to be a war on terror. They did let neither any thing nor any one get in their way of finding terrorist. In the process many innocent people suffered and eventually killed because of the tactics. Just like the US, Israel used the same tactic when they went looking for terrorist in the Occupied Territories. They bombed innocent people in order to look for terrorist on the region. However in February 2002 more than one hundred Israel’s reservists refused to go serve in the area because of the policies which Israel was using. Just like the US, Israel refused to recognize terrorist from ordinary civilians. But the media do not report these kinds of issues to the people. However they report the stories which seem like heroism.
The story of Kurdi Bear was the main story of Israel’s media sources. It was the story of how this one man managed to stay and demolish “terrorist” houses for seventy five hours straight while in a major bombing area. He said that he managed to do his job by drinking whiskey ands if he could then he would have knocked down the whole village. The story of a hero however he wished that he could have destroyed the whole village. That is crazy because when I think of a hero, I do not think of people harming others who have nothing to do with the situation which is revolving around them. However, the media tried the spin the fact is that this man destroyed people’s home whom he thought was terrorists but they were in face innocent people who were in a bad situation. However, the media and the country hail this man as a hero.
After constantly reading articles and book or stories such as these put a lot of things in perspective for me. I use to think that terrorist were just people who had different religious beliefs than ours. I also thought they only attacked us because they did not agree with how we did not agree with what their religion had them to do. Now I kind of get the understanding of where terrorist motives come from. Just think about it, we claim to be this nation that is going to liberate them. However, when the US came in we made their lives worst by destroying their homes and mainly killing their innocent loved ones. They have this hate for America because they believe that America is the reason why all these bad things have happened to them. I still do not agree with their tactics but I have an understanding of where they get their ideals from. I believe that if somebody has done you wrong then they will eventually face the man upstairs and try to give him an explanation of their doings. Overall, I still have pride in the US and I still love it but at the same time I am just a little bit disappointed in my country. We have this perception that our country is this do good nation however it has been very shady and they have kept many of the horrible things of which it has done away from mainstream media.
