More than military muscle needed for Middle East peace

Dear Editor,

September 11 marks thirteen years since the collapse of the World Trade Centre in which close to two thousand lives were lost.

I have some vivid recollections of that period as I had only a few days earlier visited those imposing buildings with a relative of mine who was working in one of them. Both were completely razed to the ground by terrorist elements. She proudly took me to her office which was located in the upper section of one of the buildings.

As I watched in horror and disbelief as the planes struck the two buildings, my thoughts raced back to that relative of mine only to receive the sad news that she was one of those who perished in the attack. At the time she was a mother of five little children, one of whom was still an infant.

It is now thirteen years since that gruesome day and the children have now grown up and are doing quite well, but the memories and scars of that sad moment continue to live on. A new and even more imposing structure has been built on the site where the buildings once stood.

However, the so-called ‘war on terror’ unleashed by the United States administration is far from over. Indeed, there is now much greater instability in the countries where the United States got involved militarily such as Iraq and Afghanistan with no lasting solution on the horizon. The emergence of Islamic State fighters threatening to establish a trans-border Islamic state in parts of Iraq and Syria now poses new challenges to the United States from a security standpoint.

The United States has again taken a decision to intervene militarily in the battle against jihadist and IS forces operating in Iraq and Syria. It remains to be seen how effective that approach would be, especially in terms of a long-term and sustainable solution. It is quite evident, however, based on past experiences, that it would require much more than military muscle to bring about a lasting solution to the problems in the Middle East.

 Yours faithfully,

Hydar Ally