The Badger Herald

OPINION & EDITORIAL

Bush U.N. nominee religiously unique, has same old ideas

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Also by Gerald Cox:

• I'll take a female president, just not her (December 3, 2007)
• Religion aside, faith perseveres (November 26, 2007)
• Want Big Ten sports? Get a dish (November 19, 2007)
• Civil rights movement needs 'Black-In' (November 12, 2007)

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• Middle Eastern Freedom (April 29, 2005)
• John Bolton-wrong man for UN ambassador job (March 17, 2005)
• Bolton's resignation good for U.S. (December 6, 2006)
• Saudi women barred from voting in upcoming election (October 14, 2004)

by Gerald Cox

Thursday, January 18, 2007

A neo-conservative Muslim ambassador to the United Nations. Sound like Saudi Arabia’s ambassador? Syria’s? The virtually unknown Gulf state of Oman’s? Well, humor me as I tell you something you may already know and inform you that I am referring to George Bush’s very own Zalmay Khalilzad. Few of us know the name, let alone how to pronounce it. However, as John Bolton’s troubled and short tenure as the United States ambassador to the United Nations may have proved, Khalilzad could become the object of increased scrutiny in the next few months. We may even learn how to pronounce his name. Unlike Bolton, however, Khalilzad brings a rather unique characteristic to the Bush administration, unprecedented in Cabinet-level positions.

Khalilzad is a Muslim. Or at least that’s what the main media outlets are telling us. I suppose Khalilzad is as much a Muslim as Bush is a Christian. And by that, I mean only when it’s advantageous. And it’s advantageous to have a Muslim appointed as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Take that whatever way you like it.

So why the abject non-reaction from Zionist neo-conservative circles? Why hasn’t Israel expressed concern over America’s perfidious behavior in the face of their longstanding coziness? Why haven’t neo-conservative decision-makers hailed this as an affront to our nation’s Christian values? Why isn’t Khalilzad getting the Bolton treatment, conservative style?

When Khalilzad, President Bush’s choice to replace the beleaguered John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, becomes the top American ambassador to the United Nations, he will also become the first Muslim member of a U.S. president’s Cabinet. He will also become America’s first Muslim ambassador in the United Nations. So why isn’t anyone scared?

Khalilzad is certainly qualified for the job. Previously serving as U.S. ambassador to his native country of Afghanistan, Khalilzad then became the U.S. ambassador to Iraq’s nascent and conflicted government. A curious move, considering Iraq and Afghanistan share few similarities and are separated by the massive landmass of Iran. However, Khalilzad has proved his competency, despite his inability to broker lasting peace in Iraq. Even the new U.N. Secretary General has expressed interest in Khalilzad — he’s been reported as wanting him for the post of Undersecretary General for Public Affairs. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds impressive.

Conservatives aren’t worried about the Khalilzad nomination, despite his Muslim beliefs, because Khalilzad is the most right-leaning Muslim bent on American hegemonic world domination you’ll ever hear utter a word of Arabic. Glaring highlights of his long career in Washington include his Project for the New American Century membership. The PNAC was founded by quintessential neo-conservatives William Kristol (not to be confused with comedian Billy Crystal) and Robert Kagan. If you don’t know them, look them up. Kristol is especially entertaining. Liberal thinkers will tell you the PNAC and its members are all about American military and economic domination in order to establish U.S. dominance worldwide — the usual neo-conservative agenda. So that explains why Khalilzad is a rising star in the most conservative administration since Reagan’s.

More interesting is Khalilzad’s involvement with South Asian terrorists in his native Afghanistan. As the State Department’s Special Advisor on Afghanistan, Khalilzad was instrumental in the U.S. tactic of aiding Afghan mujahideen and later, the Taliban. Khalilzad even delivered an address in Pakistan to the Afghani mujahideen that laid out America’s conditional support of their insurgency. He was also a member of the Friends of Afghanistan, along with a fellow professor at Columbia who was the architect behind the use of Islamic extremists in Afghanistan to combat Soviet interests. Friends of Afghanistan was also involved in aiding and training the Afghan insurgency in producing propaganda to help label Soviets as human rights abusers and avoid the label of “terrorists.” In short, Khalilzad has some rather shadowy connections to some rather shadowy individuals.

The point of this short history lesson? While Khalilzad is quietly being touted as the first Muslim to attain such a lofty position within the U.S. government, it may be better said that Khalilzad is more of a Muslim manipulator than a Muslim believer. Khalilzad is well-versed in manipulating Islamic sentiments, as he proved time after time with Afghanistan, a trait that did not go unnoticed by the administration. Whisked off to Iraq in the hopes that his past dealings with frustrated Muslim extremists would pay off, Khalilzad is also more than well-entrenched in conservative circles. His history reveals him as a conservative committed to furthering America’s position as global superpower, and one who can orchestrate Islamic extremism in the wake of American insistence.

To be honest, he sounds like just the man for the job.

Gerald Cox (gcox@badgerherald.com) is a junior majoring in economics and Middle Eastern studies.