 |
| .................................... |
 Another Inconvenient Truth >> Aki Nawaz “Go Join Hezbollah!" >> Amina Nawaz So, You Wanna Change the World? >> Sarah Waseem 10 Books To Read Before Going To University >> Mujadad Zaman Still Learning to Tread on Hallowed Ground >> Omar Fraser A Prophet for All >> Abdul-Rehman Malik Emerging from the Rubble: A Letter from New York City >> Zeeshan Suhail and Muntasir Sattar Istanbul’s Illuminated Ramadan Nights >> Abdal Hakim Murad The Pain of Panjshir >> Chris Sands A People Coming Apart at the Seams >> David Lepeska A Cynical Plan to Rebuild Islam >> Louay Safi Suffer The Little Children >> Tasneem Osgood Dangerous Denial on Darfur >> Muhammed Abdelmoteleb Is the Glass Half Full of Hope or Despair? >> Fozia Bora The Mother of All Muslim Organisations >> Mullah Charles Bala Subramaniam Narasimha Rao A Pious Mole >> Mudasser Ali Living on the Edge >> Tauhid Pasha The Silly Season >> Dal Nun Strong Walk in the Old Paths >> Daoud Rosser-Owen A Modern-Day Ibn Battuta - A tribute to Thomas Omar Abercrombie (1930-2006) >> Shiraz Sheikh “How can you hear a million words from a million mouths at the same time?” >> Shan Khan A Triumph of Myth >> Abdul-Rehman Malik The Timbuktu Charter: “We will be like ferocious lions” >> Muammar al-Gaddafi Updike’s Terrorist: An(other) American Folly >> Raneem Azzam A Crooked Commission >> Sunny Hundal Aural Remembrance Whitewashing White Terror Veil-Gate - The End of Tolerance? Organic Iftars, Unholy Garbage iPod vs iMuslim Formula One Fatwas Vox Populi |
.. |
“Go Join
Hezbollah!" Page 38 Amina Nawaz met Robert Baer in a room called “Vault
II". Between the single table, three chairs, bright halogen
spot-lighting and a voice recorder, this could have easily been the
scene of a tête-à-tête in back-alley Beirut. The
lattés and bottled spring water gave away their true intentions.
It was quite unlike the brutal interrogation shown in Syriana, the
movie inspired by Baer’s experiences as an American operative in the
Middle East. The difference was that a Muslim woman was interrogating
the CIA agent. Baer’s intense blue eyes assess everything. They read the anti-war pins on my handbag, but just for a split second before returning to meet my face with the same unflinching stoic expression. He was holding a copy of Conrad’s Lord Jim in his hands. I wished secretly it had been Heart of Darkness. It wasn’t difficult to imagine Baer - with over two decades spent in places such as Iraq, Dushanbe, Rabat, Beirut, Khartoum, and New Delhi - as a modern-day, Kurtz a la Brando. After all, it would be easy to go over the edge after a lifetime of service, risking his life and watching desperately as the CIA, as one biography puts it “reduced drastically its operations overseas, failed to put in place people who knew local languages and customs, and rewarded workers who knew how to play the political games of the agency’s suburban Washington headquarters but not how to recruit agents on the ground.” But Baer was not the austere, sarcastic intelligence agent I thought I would meet. When speaking of our mutual home state Colorado, our interest in literature, and his Hollywood experiences, Robert smiled, chuckled and became perfectly at ease. It’s only when we spoke of the Middle East that he became deadly serious. With his new film The Cult of the Suicide Bomber set to air in the UK, he approaches the region with a sense of exhaustion and resignation. Things are bad, are they going to get - a lot - worse. Baer is not without contradictions. He ran covert operations for the CIA, yet he’s has gentle, measured, almost grandpa-like quality to him. He is serious and removed and yet involved and engaged, even in his moments of silence. That may be why he makes so much sense. Anyone who has even dabbled in the study of Middle Eastern history understands that simplicity is not a word associated with the politics of the region. Immense complexities, intricacies and dualities shape the realities and lived experiences of millions. It was in Baer’s contradictions, I found the most nuanced analysis and, frankly, the most common sense. Amina Nawaz, Q-News: Your current projects include a series of documentaries examining The Cult of the Suicide Bomber. What do you hope to achieve by these films? Rob Baer: I always looked at suicide bombing from an operational standpoint, people sponsored by an organisation. The first suicide bombing that I investigated, I assumed from the outset that it was due to personal problems. But then I realised, after going into these films, that they don’t have personal problems. There is no single motivation: some of its revenge, some of it’s a belief in the afterlife. The real revelation was the SSNP [Syrian Social Nationalist Party] bombers in Lebanon, who were non-believers. Then you have women who are so mad with the occupation in Israel, that they are killing themselves. Q: Do you think there is a danger of promoting a certain kind of dangerous rhetoric? Baer: One of the by-lines of the documentary is “an enemy against whom there is no defence". One palatable feeling in the US these days is a huge emphasis on fearing our ‘enemies', but no one is quite sure who our enemy is. There is fear mongering in the States. 9/11 was a political symbol which has been exploited both financially and politically. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Americans really see the cause and effect of their actions. You cannot go into a country like Iraq, which has led to the deaths of 150 Muslims a day, and assume that this will not have an affect on the Muslims. Americans cannot see suicide bombings as self -defence, they will never make that link. Q: Do the majority of Americans have a real conception of what is going on? Baer: Absolutely not. Q: What is the danger of that? Baer: Well the danger is that they elect someone like George Bush who panders to their fears and prejudices. Americans wouldn’t know a Muslim from a Buddhist but the point is the President says we have to go into a tribal area in Pakistan, bomb it and it’s too bad if we kill civilians. They too are culpable because of collective guilt. This idea of collective guilt has become almost second nature in the US and UK justifications for military actions. It’s on both sides. If you blow up a plane, it doesn’t matter if you are Jewish, Muslim. Christian - the fact that you are getting onto an American plane makes you guilty. The Israelis, when they blow up a building in Gaza, or now in Beirut: they say that the other people in the apartment are guilty for living with Hezbollah. In Nazi Germany, the whole Jewish race was blamed for the problems in Germany. Suicide bombers are looking at Israelis, and saying, ‘look, these children who will join the army, and pay the taxes will grown up and kill Muslims. They should therefore be killed now or we need to show them that there is a price for killing Muslims.' Q: To what extent do people buy into the rhetoric? Baer: People make decisions out of fear and they think they have no choice. Israelis didn’t put a wall around Gaza because it makes them feel better or because they are afraid of the Islamic culture. They did so because they feel it’s their only security. Suicide bombers commit such acts because they feel it’s their only defence. Q: What do you think of the US and UK relationship with Israel? Baer: It’s ultimately the taking sides with Israel that will destroy Israel. They are not forcing the Israelis to make tough compromises. They receive aid and money and they can hold onto settlements in the West Bank. If they were to make a compromise, though I don’t know what that compromise would look like, there will be more chance of a lasting peace. Israelis haven’t taken themselves to account. I do think Lebanon was planned by Cheney, to go into Lebanon and destroy Hezbollah, which was not accomplished. I think Jordan and Egypt will go down the same route as Lebanon, with Islamic groups, the only proficient political groups, within the country attacking Israel. Islam is the only political force in Middle East. Period. Nationalism and secularism have all failed. The only party in Lebanon that is not corrupt is Hezbollah. The only charismatic leader in Lebanon is Hassan Nasrallah. [Hezbollah] won. People try to argue that they didn’t but from the eyes of an Arab, Hezbollah won. If you are in Yemen and you are looking at Abbas in Palestine, or Mubarak in Egypt, Abdullah in Jordon, and Nasrallah in Lebanon, who would you want to protect you? It’s going to be Nasrallah. The Israelis, by going into Lebanon, have empowered Nasrallah Q: Having lived in Beirut, what did you think when all this started? Baer: I thought it was incredibly stupid. I have filmed in the south and these people are Hezbollah supporters. When you destroy apartment blocks you might get a cadres, but you are alienating thousands of Lebanese. In the images, what you and I see of the bombing of the southern suburbs, I thought of the Warsaw ghetto which was flattened by Nazis. These images serve only to strengthen the support for Hezbollah. You also have to look at the justices and injustices that are being perpetrated. Suicide bombing arises from oppression and humiliation. Q: How much of you is in Bob Barnes, the character in Syrian played by George Clooney and based on you? Baer: A lot actually. I was in the Middle East trying to learn the language and understand the culture. I was looking at Hezbollah, the Palestinian situation, the war in Iraq and I came back to America but they didn’t really care about my knowledge. I was against the war from day one but the press didn’t care. Q: Which scene in Syriana moves you the most? Baer: When Clooney figures out that he has been done in and been brought in to kill the prince. I know all the real characters in this film. So I know all the stories. I know the guy that Matt Damon plays. He was actually a Syrian. I see the trailers and the scene where Matt Damon says “when you guys don’t have oil, you guys will be back in the desert". I liked that scene. Can you believe they made the film? Warner brothers didn’t want to make Syriana at first. But Clooney and Damon gave up their salaries to finance it. Q: What do you think the US role in the Middle East should be? Baer: The people who brought us the Iraq war have never been to the Middle East. You look at all the commentators on TV, they have never been there either and yet they think that killing Zarqawi will make a difference. The United States has to get out. I cannot recall anyone imposed democracy on us so why should we do the same on others. Imagine if the Albanians came to New York, destroyed our police force and then replaced it with their own people, people who could not speak English. Also denying that there is a civil war in Iraq is racism. If 150 people were dying in the US it would be called a civil war, for political reasons. But all politics stops at the border. Q: So why are the US and the UK pursuing this policy if it’s a failure? Baer: I do not think it is because of oil because there is not a drop of oil that is being exploited in Iraq and there never will be as long the American military is there. In any case it is all being stolen which suggests there wasn’t a plan to take the oil. I think Bush looked at Afghanistan as a success and saw it as muscular foreign policy. He probably thought that if we have a more muscular foreign policy, he would be more popular and the Republicans would be in power for the next 50 years. But the people around Bush don’t know the Middle East. The Middle East does not take well to foreign invasions. Think of the British experience. I recently went to California with a colleague. His Iranian friend, also an agent, had just opened book a poetry book by Hafiz. Hafiz is a very complicated poet. He makes Chaucer and Shakespeare look like mere fairy tales. My American friend opens the book, sees a poem, closes the book and recites it by heart. These are the kinds of people we need to listen to, but no one wants to hear what he is saying. Q: The intelligence failure in Iraq and in advance of the7/7 bombings, not to mention other botched anti-terror investigations, beg questions about the way in which information is being gathered. Is there a way to close the trustworthiness gap? Baer: You could adopt Enoch Powell’s approach and stop accepting immigrants. That’s one end of the spectrum. Then we move onto the middle where we adopt police tactics to identify people, but the problem is how do you get into someone’s mind? The way I talk I would probably be excludable. In fact I have been stopped at Heathrow. I was coming for a conference in October 2002. At the airport the lady at check in asked me what I was doing in London and I said that I was speaking at a conference on oil. Out of nowhere she asks about my opinion on the war and I said that it was an act of idiocy. She grabs my passport and says you have an American passport and you are against the war. She calls Scotland Yard and M.I. 5 and I had to sit for like two hours whilst they checked me. Eventually they let me go. I don’t look Muslim but I know if you are British Muslim and you are expressing your opinion on Iran and Iraq contrary to the government line, it doesn’t make you a militant but the police cannot figure out when political opinion turns into militant Islam The third option is to be neutral like Germany or Switzerland. If the West gave a semblance of fairness to the Middle East, if the West were willing to deal with the West Bank and Gaza, abide by resolution 242 and bring a Muslim solution to Iraq, then the ummah would turn around. For the Palestinians, until you get a real investigation of Israelis shoulders who randomly kill, they will always feel a sense of unfairness. For instance, the American soldiers who killed families in Iraq might get the death penalty. This same kind of justice should be used in Israel. Amongst Muslims in Britain, the problem is that the first generation are looked upon as Uncle Toms. They came here to make a living and put their kids through school. The kids grew up and now say, ‘Well it’s not enough to be a second class citizen.' To the militants, I would say, go join Hezbollah. Do what they do. I’m not advocating war! People do go fight though - some of the British went and fought the Communists in Spain. So if you are that desperate to fight, join Hezbollah! The people in the middle are risking the possibility of a huge reaction against them - a fascist reaction against minorities. Britain could become a fascist state. Q: Five years after 9/11, where do you think we are at? Baer: It’s become worse since then. True there hasn’t been an attack on America but when you create so much rage it will eventually come back to you. How many years did it take the Afghanis to hit the Russians? The most interesting thing about the Lebanon war was that Hezbollah didn’t turn to terrorism. Terrorism is the armour of the weak and desperate and they did not use it because they felt strong enough to take on the Israelis army in a conventional, set piece battle. Now the question is what’s next…is this attitude to war going to spread throughout the Middle East? Hezbollah was so disciplined all through the war and continues to build support in Lebanon by rebuilding. The international aid committees take ages for reconstruction money to reach Lebanon. By that time Hezbollah would probably have done it themselves. I was recently in the US and I asked this man on the bus what he thought of the phone tapping scandal and he said anything that stops terror is acceptable. He is an idiot. What about torturing Americans? If you tap the phone and you get people like me who don’t agree with the war in Iraq, why not haul them in and torture them until they admit they are wrong. And then put them in a lake and if they survive they are witches and if they survive…well at least you know now! If the House of Representative goes Democrat in the November mid-term elections, they are still idiots. They don’t know what to do. They don’t know the Middle East. The House of Representatives is America. It is the place for small town USA, this huge rural area, the red states that are essentially conservative and reactionary. There is no viable liberal agenda. Q: Who the in the Middle East gives you hope? Baer: The Faisal family in Saudi Arabia and Hamad bin Jasim [a Qatari exile]. You have reformists in Saudi royal family who want to cut back on the corruption but ultimately the US and UK is supporting the corrupt princes thereby adding insecurity in the gulf. Islamist parties are attractive options. Hamas is essentially not corrupt. Fatah were corrupt and incompetent. I don’t know the future of Islam but at the moment, Islamist parties are the only option. I tend to think Middle East gets worse as time goes on. It always has. The borders are still artificial, the ruling parties are corrupt and petroleum is a curse. What has happened Iraq might be good for the US to leave the Middle East. You don’t want people like the Neo Cons - people who don’t understand the Middle East, Islam, power politics, national interests - reforming the world. What has happened is much worse than what Britain and France did after World War I by changing borders - at least they had some knowledge of the Middle East. The State Department doesn’t control foreign policy. They were against the war in Iraq. Armitage was, even Powell was reluctant though he lied through his teeth. But they are not in control. You don’t want the Pentagon making foreign policy. So having a check in Iraq early on might not be a bad thing. If I was a Muslim I would join Hezbollah even though it is essentially a Shia party, because they took the war to the enemy and the violence used was not so random. Organised military is the way of the future. I can see OBL losing influence to more organised Islamic movements. Q: Will it solve the Middle East crisis? Baer: Eventually - it will be revenge of the cradle. Israel is a Western colony. Their culture is western and ultimately Islam is fighting Colonialism. It is an old story but sometime in the distant future it will go away. Q: You say that Britain could become a fascist state. It reminds me of the ending of the film V for Vendetta - the “resistance” blows up Parliament - destroys the rotten structure and what it represents and rebuild from the ground up. What do you think? Baer: I like blowing things up! |