In the autumn of 1978, a group of junior Foreign Service Officers shared cheap beers at a bar near the White House to celebrate the Camp David Accords signed by leaders of the US, Egypt and Israel.
Most of us, awaiting our first overseas assignments had volunteered for low-level administrative tasks; our over-blown egos convinced us we were “part of history.”
All twenty-somethings, we told one another that Middle East peace would come during our careers. We embraced the adage that “there can be no war without Egypt; no peace without Syria,” believing that Egypt’s place at Camp David guaranteed no war; Syria would follow to guarantee peace, and all other Muslim Arab states in the region would make peace with Israel. Iran, under the Shah had already become the first Muslim nation to recognize Israel.
The lone senior diplomat among us, a man with vast Middle East experience, cautioned that neither the Arab nor the Muslim worlds were homogenous; those of our own 1960s generation should not think that peace will come by “holding hands and singing Kumbaya.” We considered his view to be as old as the single malt scotch he was sipping.
Three decades later, most of our group have left the diplomatic corps, the Middle East is no closer to peace, body bags filled since 1978 are too numerous to count; and “Kumbaya” is now being sung not by nave junior functionaries but by the President of the United States.
The keynote of Obama’s recent trip to the region was a speech in Cairo assuring Muslims around the world that we are not at war with them. It was pleasing to the ear; Kumbaya is a pretty song, even when transposed into the key of “P” for politics. But like the President’s speech, the song is sappy and lacks any specific call to action.
Obama urged Muslims and Jews to recognize common ground and said America will facilitate that process. That is far easier said than done. Israel is a religiously tolerant democratic state, while its neighbors are anything but democratic and by no means tolerant even within their own Islamic faith.
The only Muslim signatory at Camp David, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists in his own country. Iran is now a radical Shiite theocracy dedicated to eradicating Israel and has banded with Syria to wreak havoc in the region.
Obama conceded that one speech will not create change. Tolerance and trust are based upon mutual knowledge and understanding. The United States enjoys the world’s most extensive and powerful educational and communications institutions.
Paradoxically, surveys of young Americans’ geographic knowledge often reveal tragi-comic results: For example, large numbers believe that Iran and Afghanistan are Arabic nations.
U.S. Public Diplomacy programs to “tell America’s story to the world” were emasculated by the abolition of the United States Information Agency (USIA) and cuts to Voice of America Radio (VOA).
Simultaneously, al-Jazeera is using interactive “new media” to deliver often radical-Islamic and anti-American messages to the “Arab Street” over the heads of friendly Muslim governments.
Al-Jazeera’s technique of mixing editorial comment with indigenous pop-entertainment is what USIA used to by-pass former communist governments to talk to their people. The Cairo speech was an example of feel-good but obsolete public posturing.
Tony Das is president/COO of Global Markets Consulting Group, LLC., and is a former U.S. State Department foreign service officer.
