The ‘Muslim Connection’ Fallacy : Iraq isn’t Bosnia, and charges of a religion-directed U.S. policy are wrong

A number of Islamic nations, among them U.S. allies Egypt and Turkey, as well as representatives of Arab-American groups are complaining of what they see as an American double standard. Against Iraq, an Arab and Muslim country, President Clinton ordered the use of force to punish aggression. But against Serbia, a European and Christian country, Clinton--like his predecessor--has taken no military action despite clear evidence of Serbia’s deep involvement in aggression against the majority Muslim population in Bosnia. The complainers conclude from all this that U.S. policy, if not overtly anti-Muslim, at least seems to put a low priority on Muslim lives.

To give credence to this conclusion requires first of all accepting the false notion that the Bosnia and Iraq situations are politically equivalent simply because Muslims happen to live in both places. It similarly requires ignoring a lot of inconvenient recent history. That would include last year’s humanitarian intervention in Somalia to save from starvation and domestic predators the lives of a great many people who happen to be Muslims, as well as the U.S.-led liberation of Kuwait, whose populace is, of course, Arab and Muslim.

Last Saturday’s Tomahawk missile attack on Iraq was prompted by what Clinton concluded was compelling evidence of Baghdad’s hand in a plot to murder former President George Bush. Retaliation for such an act is sanctioned under international law; nations, like individuals, have the inherent right to defend themselves. Washington saw the Iraqi plot as tantamount to an attack on the United States, and a response was all but unavoidable.

The cold political reality is that while the tragedy in Bosnia pricks the American conscience it does not directly affect vital U.S. interests. Anti-Muslim Serbian (and now Croatian) aggression against Bosnia’s Muslims is an outrage that cries out for a severe international response. Europeans, with U.S. support, should take the lead in that response. Bosnia is a moral concern for the United States; Iraq’s behavior is a strategic challenge. The Muslim connection some try to make between the two is simply not valid.