I’m no Middle East expert. Not many students on campus are. Not many of us know the difference between enriched uranium and regular uranium. Nor can we can we elucidate the precise differences between programs for creating nuclear bombs and nuclear energy. But I will try to present as humbly as I will some of the dangers that are creeping at a much quicker pace to the forefront in the Middle East.
CNN has reported that a group in Iran called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign is reporting astronomical numbers of recruits acting as suicide bombers against Iran and Islam’s enemy, the West. The name of the group does not elicit the warm feeling that clerics try to deliver when they say Islam is a religion of peace. The West knows all too well what horrible deeds can be committed in the name of religion.
There are other reports from London’s Sunday Times that the government of Iran has regiments of suicide bombers waiting to protect Iranian interests. Apparently Iran is willing to murder in the name of peaceful energy.
Iran has recently pledged $50 million to the Palestinian Authority, perhaps in response to the West’s cessation of business dealings with the Hamas-controlled Authority. And, of course, Hamas is the group that wrote of the Jews, “May the cowards never sleep.” I would assume there is only a handful that can sleep peacefully in the Middle East knowing how much destruction could arise from a hatred that is incapable of being squelched.
Looking at the West’s situation – and it is a farce to think it is merely an American one – there is Iraq with an unstable government and many who would rather blow up themselves and their fellow Iraqis to stop America and Britain from building a democratically elected, Westernized republic.
Iran will stop at nothing to prevent the West from meddling in its nuclear program, which has purportedly completely peaceful intentions. Hamas in Palestine would like to see all Jews out of the Middle East and has taken responsibility for at least 60 suicide bombings, in spite of Hamas politician Khalid Meshaal’s claim, “We do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture.”
Accord after treaty has not mended the rift between Israel and Muslims. Islamic countries like Iran and Iraq have repelled Western attempts at democratizing or modernizing – although they were much more receptive to Western arms in late wars. The legacy of Muhammad has unfortunately not been one of peace for his followers. The Middle East teeters between total war and mere sporadic conflict. Western meddling has proved counterproductive since its inception.
The Middle East was too hostile for our Latin Kingdoms. It was too hostile for Communism and is proving to be for Western democracy as well. The screams and chaos of fundamentalist Muslims drown out the minority that actually wants Western help, if one exists at all. They have a nationalist and religious zeal for “anti-American-ness” we have seen too much of already in the past century. I certainly don’t have the audacity to offer an answer, but the question is too pressing to leave unanswered. This Easter, Pope Benedict XVI prayed for “patient and persevering dialogue, so as to remove both ancient and new obstacles.” It would seem the pope is on the right track.
Dialogue so far, though, has always fallen short. I humbly ask what is next?
 
Lake is a history senior. Contact him
at [email protected]