The Worst Eight Years in Arab-American Relations

In just a few months, President Barack Obama is leaving the White House after the worst eight years of American-Arab relations. The Obama administration did not spare any effort in pursuing the destruction of the nation state in most Arab countries by encouraging and supporting anything that nourishes ethnic, tribal, confessional and sectarian tendencies and chauvinism so that the region will continue — for years to come — drowning in wars and conflicts of different kinds, with the goal of wreaking havoc and spreading chaos.

It is necessary to acknowledge that the Arab world counted its chickens before they hatched when welcoming the arrival of an African-American president with Islamic roots. In reality, it confirms the naiveté and foolishness of the majority of Arab analysts and intellectuals after it became obvious that the policies Obama strove for included spreading chaos and prolonging local and regional conflicts.

Indeed, the policies of Obama have brought nothing to the Arab world but disasters, which run counter to the legitimate aims of Arab people — peaceful regime change, serious reform, and joining the march to modernity — although Washington claims to support the dreams of freedom and democracy.

The policies of Obama were clear and explicit in draining the wealth of the Arab world and pushing most Arab countries to the brink of bankruptcy, while exhausting regular armies by arming and supporting armed militias with technologically advanced weapon systems to facilitate the dismantling of the nation state!

However, do Obama and his policies bear all of the responsibility for what has befallen the Arab world? Or does the truth require us to say explicitly that the fifth column in every Arab country was a critical player in the theater of operations, operations which were not confined to the battlefields, but extended to all the tools of soft power: the media, human rights organizations, cinema screens, the minbars* of mosques, the writings of the literati, and the theses of the intellectuals.

The most important question is why Obama hates President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi? To answer this, we must ask ourselves, is it because Sisi aborted American plans in the region by acting on July 3, 2013 in support of the June 30 revolution and its honorable goals? I think the answer is yes!

*Editor’s note: A minbar is a pulpit from which sermons and lectures are delivered.