In
Defense of Ilhan Omar
President Trump held a rally in North
Carolina on Wednesday after a week of criticizing certain freshman
members of Congress, drawing much media attention. Of course, the cries of
racism from the left is nothing new to hear, but in specifically targeting
Rep. Ilhan Omar (Dem-Minn) the president hit a new low. Omar needs to be
defended. Despite what you think of her domestic policy, she has been one of
the most consistent antiwar voices in Congress.
When Trump brought up Omar
the crowd started chanting "send her back." As disgusting as that
chant is, it’s no surprise to hear at a Trump rally. Xenophobia is nothing new
from Trump or his base. it’s what he built his campaign on. But Just calling
Trump "racist" doesn’t work, the Democrats should have learned this
from the 2016 election. What needs to be addressed is the falsehood of Trump’s
claims against the congresswoman.
Trump started his attacks
on Omar during the rally with, "Representative Omar blamed the United
States for the terrorist attacks on our country, saying terrorism is a reaction
to our involvement in other people’s affairs." The crowd responded with
boos, clearly not educated on Osama bin Laden’s motives for the attacks on
September 11th.
Bin Laden’s 1996 fatwa was
entitled "Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of
the Two Holiest Sites. (Expel the infidels from the Arab Peninsula)." Bin
Laden’s jihad against the US started because we were occupying his holy land (a point this author
has been making a lot lately).
Even George W. Bush’s
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz admitted in 2003 that US
troops in Saudi Arabia had "been Osama bin Laden’s principal recruiting
device." It doesn’t seem like President Trump learned this lesson of
history. The US is preparing to send 500 ground troops to Saudi Arabia amid
tensions with Iran, two US defense
officials told CNN (although it has not been formally
announced). Of course, if Omar criticizes this move the president will probably
use it as proof that she is "pro-al-Qaeda." But trying to prevent
more terrorist recruitment is in the interest of the American people and the
troops overseas.
Trump was referring to
comments Omar made in 2013 after an al-Shabab attack in Kenya. "Nobody
wants to face how the actions of the other people that are involved in the
world have contributed to the rise of the radicalization and the rise of
terrorist acts," the congresswomen said
on a local Twin Cities TV show. "Nobody wants to
take account of how these are byproducts of the actions of our
involvement in other people’s affairs."
Somehow acknowledging or
even questioning the cause of terrorism is considered radical in this country.
We are supposed to believe that we were attacked on September 11th because
those crazy Muslims hate our way of life and are jealous of our freedom, not because
we occupy their land. For Trump, it’s just too easy for him to make Omar’s
point about terrorism seem so crazy. Especially since she is a black Muslim
immigrant who wears a headscarf and speaks with an accent.
"She smeared the US
service members involved in ‘Black Hawk Down’ — in other words, she slandered
the brave Americans who were trying to keep peace in Somalia,” Trump said,
referencing a tweet by Omar from 2017.
Omar did not "smear"
any US troops. She responded to a twitter user who said the worst terrorist
attack in Somalia’s history was the battle of Mogadishu, also known as
"Black Hawk Down." The twitter user listed US service member
casualties and left out Somali casualties to which Omar responded, "In his
selective memory, he forgets to also mention the thousands of Somalis killed by
the American forces that day!"
The tweet was resurfaced in
April of this year, and of course Omar’s critics came out in full force. God
forbid a Somali refugee wants the deaths of innocent Somalis – caught up in
that disastrous military operation – to be remembered.
One of the more ridiculous
claims Trump made this week was that Omar and her freshman colleagues are
"pro-al-Qaeda," based on nothing. If anybody is "pro-al-Qaeda" it’s the president who arms Saudi Arabia, while it is known the
Saudis are arming al-Qaeda in Yemen. What makes this claim
even more baseless is that Omar has been fighting to stop US arms sales to
Saudi Arabia and end US involvement in the war in Yemen altogether.
Trump brought up Omar’s
criticism of his policy of aggression towards the Maduro regime in Venezuela,
"Omar blamed the United States for the crisis in Venezuela." But all
Omar did was speak the obvious truth that US sanctions play a role in the
suffering in Venezuela. No matter what is to blame for the country’s failing
economy, US sanctions do not help.
"A lot of the policies
that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela
and we have sort of set the stage for where we are arriving today," Omar told “Democracy
Now!” "This particular bullying and the use of
sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help
the people of countries like Venezuela and it certainly does not help and is
not in the interest of the United States."
The Center for Economic and
Policy Research had determined US sanctions were responsible for the deaths of
40,000 Venezuelans in a report they released
in April.
Omar is one of the very few
members of Congress who oppose intervention in Venezuela. Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), when asked about US
intervention in Venezuela said, "I defer to caucus
leadership on how we navigate this." Caucus leadership wants regime change
in Venezuela, lining up with Trump and his neocons.
The Somali-born
congresswoman has been nothing but consistent in her antiwar views. She has
been part of the effort against US involvement in the war in Yemen, an
outspoken critic of Trump’s Iran policy and signed a bipartisan letter to the
president, supporting his announcement of withdrawing troops from Syrian and
Afghanistan.
Omar even criticized
President Obama’s foreign policy, when she said he was just
a "pretty face" who got "away with murder." "We can’t
be only upset with Trump. … His policies are bad, but many of the people who
came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than
he was," Omar told Politico in May. "And that’s not
what we should be looking for anymore. We don’t want anybody to get away with
murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that
are behind the pretty face and the smile." A refreshing thing to hear a Democrat
in Congress say.
And of course, Omar has
been a critic of Israel’s influence on US politicians. Omar’s very mild
criticism of Israel has gotten her the most backlash. She tweeted, "It’s
all about the Benjamin’s baby," when referring to a story that journalist
Glenn Greenwald shared on twitter. The story was about a US politician
condemning Omar’s criticisms of Israel. When asked who was paying politicians
to be pro-Israel Omar responded in another tweet, "AIPAC!" The
American Israeli Public Affairs Committee is one of the largest pro-Israel
lobbying organizations in the US and has lots of influence on US politicians.
Both republicans and democrats condemned these statements as
"anti-Semitic"
Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi and other House Democrats released a statement on Omar’s tweets,
"Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial
accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive." This no doubt
paved the way for Trump to attack Omar.
In the middle of these
attacks from the president, Omar introduced legislation on Wednesday to protect
our constitutional right to boycott Israel. The resolution said,
"Affirming that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in the pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First
Amendment to the Constitution."
Fox News Host Tucker
Carlson recently had a segment on his show
criticizing Omar saying, "Ilhan Omar is living proof that
the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country."
Omar responded to Carlson
by calling him a "racist fool." But what if she takes a different
approach to the criticism? Carlson is known to be opposed to regime change wars
and may even have the president’s ear. President Trump has made opposing
endless war part of his rhetoric, although his actual policy has not shown
that.
Imagine how powerful it
would be for Omar to request a closed-door meeting with Trump about war, or ask
Carlson if she can come on his show? Carlson often says he is a fan of open
dialogue between people with opposing views, Omar should challenge him to see
if he really means that.
The chants of "send
her back" should be condemned, but just calling everybody
"racist" will only further divide the country. Omar should try to
work with her enemies to end our wars and stop the suffering of Muslims in the
Middle East at the hand of the government she is now a part of. Don’t let these
attacks distract you, congresswoman, keep fighting for peace.
Dave DeCamp is a freelance
journalist based in Brooklyn NY, focusing on US foreign policy and wars. He
recently joined Antiwar.com as an assistant editor. He is on Twitter at @decampdave.
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