War Shifts U.S. in Eyes of Muslims

Bloody and costly as it is, the conflict in the Balkans has the potential to transform the historically hostile relationship between Islam and the West into a partnership, particularly if it succeeds in restoring and empowering the more than 600,000 displaced Kosovo Albanian Muslims.

For the first time, the United States and its European allies, whose cultures are primarily based on Christianity, are going to war against a sister Christian country, Yugoslavia, to defend a persecuted Muslim community. Although the crisis in the Balkans is basically seen as ethnic, Muslims throughout the Middle East and beyond cast it as a religious war waged by Christian Serbs against Albanians of Kosovo, most of whom are Muslims. NATO’s punishing of Christian Serbs in support of Kosovo Albanian refugees is bound to advance and promote Christian-Muslim coexistence and reconciliation and portends important political and civilizational possibilities. President Clinton seemed to be aware of this when he recently referred to Kosovo as a “very small place” that nevertheless “sits right at the dividing line . . . between Islam and Christianity.”

The political echoes of this conflict are already resonating throughout the Muslim lands and beyond. An overwhelming majority of the 56 Muslim states at the United Nations has strongly backed NATO’s campaign; so have Muslim Americans. The widespread perception among many Muslims of the United States as a ruthless behemoth bent on disciplining unruly Arabs/Muslims while co-opting other defiant cultures is being challenged. Although editorials in the Arab press remain skeptical about the efficacy of NATO’s bombing campaign and call for the deployment of ground forces to end ethnic cleansing, they have drawn parallels between Washington’s treatment of the Iraqi and Yugoslav presidents, Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic, respectively.

Some Arab journalists have openly reproached their colleagues for refraining from taking sides in the unfolding drama in the Balkans. A columnist in the widely read pan-Arab daily, Al Hayat, cautioned Arab writers against ascribing the crisis in Kosovo to “an American conspiracy” and “practicing the only racism against America and Americans that is permissible today.” Some commentators even showered praise on NATO’s mission, thus slaughtering one of the sacred cows in Arab political discourse--anti-Americanism.

The war over Kosovo also represents a final nail in the coffin of the clash-of-civilizations thesis that was propagated in the 1990s by a strange combination of rival political camps: those in the West, who seek to turn the Muslim world into another enemy, and those in the Islamist camp, who resent the West’s growing influence and advocate confrontation. Confrontationalists in both camps claim that the struggle between Islam and the West is not just about material and political interests; it is a clash of cultures.

President Clinton has decisively rejected the clash-of-civilizations thesis, stressing, instead the unique role of the United States as a “bridge” between differing spiritual systems, not as a crusading nation. In the case of Kosovo, the United States is serving as a bridge between civilizations, drawing lines in the sand to stop ethnic cleansing, at least in Europe for now. The challenge facing the international community is to effectively apply this principle in international law and make dictators think twice before they violate it.

Muslims are closely watching the chain of events in the Balkans. NATO’s credibility requires success in restoring the Kosovo Albanian refugees to their homes and providing them with local autonomy and security. In the end, Serb officials and Kosovo Liberation Army rebels, who also committed acts of genocide, must be brought to justice.

For their part, Muslim intellectuals and governments alike should suspend their suspicion and distrust of the United States and support the West’s efforts in the Balkans. Although diplomacy was not given adequate consideration before airstrikes were launched, this war represents a defining moment in Christian-Muslim relations that should not be overlooked.

The moral and ethical issues involved, if faithfully adhered to, also hold the promise of providing a new foundation for a vastly improved international order. Arabs and Muslims will come to see themselves and the West in a new light and perceive the advantage of fully participating in a new dialogue between our civilizations.

Fawaz A. Gerges, a professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, is author of “American and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Class of Interests?” (Cambridge University Press, 1999).