Why Are the Muslims so Angry?

Why are the Muslims so angry about the United States? Ask them. The Muslim Brotherhoodhave been in existence since 1928. The aims of the Muslim Brotherhood are:

firstly the introduction of the Islamic Shariah law as “the basis for controlling the affairs of state and society;” and secondly work to unify “Islamic countries and states, mainly among the Arab states, and liberating them from foreign imperialism.

In other words, they want to bring about a Muslim ‘caliphate’ or empire that stretches from Indonesia to Spain and beyond. Why are they angry? Because they believe Western imperialist powers have occupied their lands and dominated their people through direct force, economic muscle or by erecting and propping up dictators who suppressed them. Here’s General Wesley Clark:

This is exactly what we’ve done, and the so-called Arab Spring was not simply to rid their own countries of dictators, but to rid their countries of us–the United States, Britain and France. Have we invaded their lands, dominated their people and their politics, supported dictators and helped suppress the people? Of course we have. Can you blame them for wanting us out? They view us as an occupying foreign force. You know–like Russia occupied and dominated the Eastern European countries.

Are the wars we’re involved in for the defense of our own country, or have we used our military might to invade other countries, or sit on their borders flexing our muscles in order to establish the dominant military presence in the Middle East? That’s exactly what we’ve done.

The vast majority of Americans don’t realize that the Muslim world (and most of the rest of the world) regard America not only as superpower, but as an aggressive one. We may disagree with them, and their perception may not be correct. All that is up for debate.

The only point I’m making is that we will never begin to understand our unpopularity abroad until we accept the fact that the perception of the United States overseas is, for very many people, one of an imperialist aggressor who goes wherever it wants and takes whatever it pleases, and if this is the perception of us overseas, we would be wise to ask why that perception exists and persists.

Could it be that we have done something wrong? Could it be, at least partially, our fault?

Frank Weathers blogs in a similar vein here.