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Letter to the editor

'We're fighting the wrong war in the wrong place'

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 19, 2007

Milton Viorst, a journalist and historian who covered the Middle East for several decades, has written a book explaining what he characterizes as the endemic enmity between the Arab world and the West.

Viorst will give a lecture at Eckerd College on Thursday. He spoke by phone this week from his home in Washington, D.C., about the premise of his book, Storm From the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West, and related topics.

What is the solution in Iraq?

A: I'm not one of those people that think we ought to pull out immediately. I think we made a terrible error in going there in the first place. The tragedy of all this is that since all of the institutions in Iraq were never very strong to begin with and have been decimated by our invasion, it makes it difficult for us to find a way out.

My position is ... to bring in some Arab governments, some Arab leadership, some Arab consortium, to persuade the Sunnis and Shiites that it is in the interest of the Arab people to reach some type of reconciliation. That would help us to get out.

How should America honor the Arab quest for nationalism?

We have to take it into account, which we refuse to do. When Vice President Cheney and even the president said it was going to be a cakewalk in Iraq, that was absurd. Every morning we get up and Iraqis, as well as Americans, are still being killed needlessly because we don't know how to handle it and it's not getting better, despite the testimony of Gen. Petraeus.

If we were to pull out of the Arab countries, what would happen to our oil supply?

Nothing.

The Saudis have still got to sell us oil. The Iraqis have still got to sell us oil, so I would think that there would be no impact at all. There might be some impact on the price.

Do you think that Osama bin Laden and his followers would leave America and its interests alone if America were to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq?

I doubt it, but the war in Iraq is not the war on Osama bin Laden. We're fighting the wrong war in the wrong place. I think it is likely that the Arabs will get tired of this violence and Osama will lose his appeal. Ultimately, getting out of Iraq, and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would help a lot.

Explain the role religion plays in this quest for nationalism.

My argument is that since the Arab world achieved its independence, that's after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and after several decades of British and French imperialism between the world wars, the Arabs never had any experience with being independent, so they were looking for some tranquility in which to build institutions.

Let's admit frankly that they have not been successful at it. Religion - Islam, that is - is the one single anchor more than anything else that Arabs fall back on when times are tough. They have gone through many bad experiences since World War II and now they are turning to religion. In time, the Arabs are going to find that religion will not solve their problems.

But the turbulence that has been generated in the region, a lot of it the fault of the West and a lot their own fault, makes it harder for them to achieve any progress in institution building.

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com or 727 892-2283.

If you go

Talk is Thursday

Milton Viors will speak about his most book at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Raymond James Room at Fox Hall at Eckerd College, 4200 54th Ave. S, St. Petersburg. A question-and-answer session and a book signing will follow. Call (727) 864-7979.

[Last modified September 18, 2007, 22:51:52]