By Matt Kiernan
Professor of International Politics at Trinity College Dr. Raymond Baker spoke to students and faculty in a speech titled, “Obama, Islam and the Muslim World,” which opened up discussion about President Barack Obama’s presence in the Middle East.
“Community building is at the very heart of the message of Islam,” said Baker to an audience in the Marcus White Living Room.
Baker provides consultation services to the Department of Defense and the Pentagon as well as other government agencies and is a former president of the International Association of Middle East Studies.
Obama, who had given a speech in Cairo, Egypt in a call for peace between America and Muslims as well as Muslims in America, was critiqued by Baker as an elegant and beautiful speech but was questioned if there was truth behind the words.
“That first speech could not have been more welcome,” said Baker.
When Obama speaks of building a more peaceful world and doing away with stereotypes of Muslims and stereotypes of America, Baker feels that the policies of the Obama administration aren’t very much different from those of the Bush years.
“The core policies are of a military-interested empire,” said Baker.
Baker feels that America likes to describe itself as a gentle giant who sleepwalks into countries with the front of good intentions but is often motivated by selfish interests that include using other countries’ natural resources. He thinks that there’s a common belief that there’s a recipe for “every war is a good war.”
There is a belief that Muslims keep one eye on their sacred text, the Qur’an, and one eye on the reality that’s occurring around them. They’re called to pay attention to every moment’s reality and work to improve the world. The Qur’an of Islam details the guidelines for how their Muslims should conduct their lives and was written by the founder of the religion Muhammad’s followers after his death.
After the attacks on 9/11, Baker feels the invasion of Afghanistan by America was the wrong thing to do and that it was more of an emotional reaction rather than a well-thought out plan. Afghanistan wasn’t a threat against America because it’s a third-world country that could not defend itself.
“The global war against terror gave justice to the attacks on American soil,” said Baker describing how the invasion gave emotional justice to America.
While Baker thinks that the Afghan people are better off without the Taliban, he also thinks that Iraq may have been better off with Saddam Hussein. After Hussein was taken out of power, Iraq was left in ruins with much destruction done to its country.
