Tsunami aid will fuel Muslim resentment, but what can we do?
I think we fool ourselves big time in thinking that our massive relief effort in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other countries hit by the lethal Christmas Tsunami will improve America’s standing among Muslims. Many wishful thinkers once again delude themselves into thinking that images of American sailors delivering American aid packages will make Muslims finally realize that just maybe the Great Satan is more Great than it is Satan.
Keep dreaming.
The vast majority of Indonesians aren’t affected by the disaster at all. To them, our Operation Please God Make Them Like Us Enough To Not want To Kill Us When Given The Chance will have no particular importance other than to remind them that they are weak and we are strong. Add to that the viscious rumor mongering that Indonesia’s Jihadists and their allies at Al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite channels will gleefully partake in: American soldiers desecrate mosques, they rape young women, they sell aid packages on the black market, they deliver aid to non-muslim villages first, and so on. I’m sure enough non-trivial mistakes will be made in the hurried relief efforts to provide the Jihadists with the (very little) credibility they need to win the ears of Indonesians who aren’t thrilled about having to turn to foreigners for help.
I would not be the least bit surprised if many muslim terrorists over the next ten years claim they joined the Jihad to avenge alleged American wrongdoings during the Tsunami relief.
The failure to win any significant number of hearts and minds in Indonesia will likely cause various anti-Bush factions to accuse the President of having botched the relief efforts. We could save quite a few trees by short-circuiting that debate right from the beginning.
Instead of obsessing over other peoples’ inability to have much respect for America, let us instead rejoice over the fact that ours is a great country; rich, free, just, and capable of helping people in far away countries. Do you really care what other people think about such a wonderful creation? I wouldn’t, and you shouldn’t.
