Fatal Arab Spring

EMANUELE OTTOLENGHI

The Cairo Speech illusion may now be over. To lead, America must be feared, not loved. Much energy was invested in recent years to improve America’s image. Ink was poured to argue that Middle Easterners hated America’s policies, but that the notion of a Kulturkampf was the bigoted fantasy of “Islamophobes.” An American president made amends, in what was hailed as a historic speech. He changed policies, sought to be humble and multilateral, evenhanded with Israel and magnanimous with its enemies. He turned America’s back on old friends, thinking this would be crowd pleasing. He went to the U.N. He even opened a dialogue with the Islamists, though the only sign they had changed their ways was his hope that they would. 

Yet the Arab world is still awash with hatred for America. Neither speeches nor gestures made the difference, in the end.

— Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

CLAUDIA ROSETT

There is no simple Arab Spring. What’s unfolding is a new age of the world, and amid the fracturing of the old order in the Middle East and North Africa, there is a bloody struggle taking place over who will next make the rules and rule the turf. Far more is at stake than the future of Libya and Egypt. When America’s role becomes one of apology, of bearing witness, of leading from behind, of offering aid as an entitlement and subordinating its own interests to an “international community” dominated by unfree states, the result is to embolden enemies of freedom.

Looming beyond the September 11 attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo and consulate in Benghazi — which were attacks on American turf — is the menace of Iran, still rolling forward with its “unacceptable” terror networks, genocidal threats, and nuclear program. In capitals from Pyongyang to Caracas, from Beijing to Moscow, this sends a message of American weakness that will not be addressed by beefing up embassy security.

Three years ago, President Barack Obama went to the United Nations to declare that “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation.” It is way past time for an American president — Democrat or Republican — to stand up on the world stage and declare that America is back, that there is serious leadership again in the Free World, and that America will defend first and foremost its principles, its interests, and those who choose to behave as its genuine allies.

— Claudia Rosett is journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and heads its Investigative Reporting Project.

BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

The lethal attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya this morning, and the effort to overrun the U.S. embassy in Cairo, both highlight the dangers of an Arab Spring gone awry.

Washington should respond swiftly. First, the U.S. needs to strengthen counterterrorism and security measures around its installations, and focus on finding the fanatics behind the attack in Benghazi. It should also pressure Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi to pursue criminal charges against the Salafi activists of the al-Nour and al-Asala parties who are believed to have stormed the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

The Obama administration — or a future Romney administration — must link financial aid with the reduction of violence against Western targets. Morsi has largely ignored the plight of Egypt’s Coptic Christian communities, who face increasing levels of Islamic-animated violence. Misogyny and widespread sexual harassment of women in, for example, Egypt must be confronted by the leaders of Arab Spring countries.

Both Republicans and Democrats must resist the temptation to throw up their hands at these expressions of barbarism. Only American leadership can help these fledgling Arab democracies move forward.

— Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.