Arab professors analyze troubles in Syria, Egypt

EL CAJON – College campuses are often the hotbed of discussion and debate regarding controversial issues. Grossmont College is certainly no exception and offers opportunities for dialogue, debate and sharing.

Recently one such event was held on campus to discuss the situations in Syria and Egypt. Panelists asserted that the United States should try to bring parties together in Syria and should refrain from taking any action in Egypt.

Dr. Sonia Ghattas-Soliman, an Egyptian who serves on the World Languages faculty at Grossmont College, said that in the era following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi , Egyptians“would like to solve their problems by themselves.”

Further, she said, “the Egyptians don’t want military aid” from the United States because it comes with too many conditions. She said these include a requirement that “Egypt does not attack Israel”; that the United States has free access to the Suez Canal; and that the U.S. has full access to the skies above Egypt.

She said that the American arms that go to Egypt are required to be carried by U.S. ships and must be received by American agents. She said the many Egyptians who are pacifists, say stop the aid.

Fellow panelist Dr. Shak Hanish of National University’s Department of Social Sciences said one constructive action the United States could take towards Syria would be to work in concert with the Russia to persuade rebel leaders and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to negotiate an end to the Civil War.

In addition, said Hanish, who is from Iraq, the U.S. should pressure such allies in the Middle East as Qatar and Saudi Arabia “to stop interfering and selling arms.”

He expressed the wish that if the United States used its drones to attack anyone in Syria, it would be against al-Qaeda forces that have penetrated the country from the outside.

Stressing the danger of Al Qaeda, Dr. Ghattas-Soliman said that in the short time that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were in power in Egypt, they allowed Al Qaeda to establish terrorist cells in the northern portion of the Sinai Desert. She said that Al Qaeda has been responsible for killings of soldiers and officers the desert peninsula and the Muslim Bortherhood is to blame for the burning and destruction of Christian churches in Egypt.

A third panelist, Prof. Jiryes Haddad of the World Languages Departments at San Diego City College, said that much of the turbulence in the Middle East today can be traced to American intervention in Iraq. The toppling of the strong central government of Saddam Hussein had the effect of turning “Iraq into the backyard of Iran” and propelling Iran into the position of a super power in the Middle East, said Haddad, who is from Jordan. Whereas previously Iraq had been a barrier to Iran’s expansionism, today Iran easily ships arms to Assad in Syria and to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A questioner who identified himself as a U.S. veteran of the war in Iraq asked if America’s military effort­and the lives lost – all were wasted.

“This is a tough question,” responded Hanish. “Sadly I don’t know if we did good by going there. Many would think that it was a violation of international law.” On the other hand, he added, there is “relative democracy” in Iraq. But the cost is that people have been dying every day from sectarian violence.

Haddad said the sectarian violence has caused many Christians to leave Iraq. Among those Christians were the Chaldean refugees whose major areas of resettlement in the United States were Detroit, Michigan, and here in El Cajon, California.

A fourth panelist, Prof. Todd Myers of Grossmont College’s economics and political science faculty, said that rather than toppling Saddam Hussein, the United States should have waited for Saddam to die, and then offered a program of democratization. The cruel math of the situation, he said, was that Saddam was killing 4,000 people per year to remain in power. In contrast, U.S. intervention led to the deaths of some 100,000 people. Even if Saddam had remained in power for 10 years, the death toll would have been much lower, he said.

The room was filled to capacity and a few people stood in the back of the room to monitor the discussion When moderator Alana Shuckett, a student who has a masters degree in Homeland Security and subsequently enrolled at Grossmont College to study Arabic, announced that the allotted time had elapsed, attendees gave the speakers a round of applause.

-DHH-