Investing in the Myth and Where It Left Ilhan Omar

Today something happened that should be a stain on American history, through a highly politicized congressional hearing Ilhan Omar was yanked off of the Foreign Affairs committee. This is in large part due to accusations of anti-Semitism because of two out of context tweets that she had apologized for but that of course was a cudgel for the truth. She is being punished for squashing a myth that has been nurtured, deeply invested in and rarely questioned (at least not in the context of American foreign policy), American exceptionalism but moreover American benevolence.

Exposing the faults in this worldview is unthinkable---unforgivable which is why we invest so much in the myth both in words and rituals, like pledge of allegiance, national anthem, deifying the founding fathers and so on.

Now, nationalism, even when practiced in that manner, isn't always bad or wrong but often times our nationalism or patriotism can become so excessive that it serves to isolate us from the realities of our policy choices and how it impacts the rest of the world.

There are the obvious mistakes, big time catastrophic foreign policy blunders like the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. Then there are the quieter crimes the coups (forced, often violent, improper regime changes) throughout countries in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Puppet leaders placed in regimes to carry out U.S interests, or even our role in the European neocolonial project in Africa. All of these things, individually, and collectively have caused enormous suffering throughout the world. None of which the American government takes responsibility for in public. And as a result of that the poor educational systems, and cultural problems in society the public is generally unaware of these acts and their implications.

So the general consensus, even among progressive democrats is to not rock the boat, not question American empire or the notion of American exceptionalism but that's where Ilhan comes in at least in the foreign policy realm acts as easily the biggest disruptor they've ever seen.

Ilhan was born in Mogidishu, Somalia on October 4, 1982 to seven children and lost her mother at age 2, and was thus-forth raised by her father and extended family and lived a relatively happy childhood until civil war broke out when she was eight and was forced to grow up in a refugee camp in Kenya until her family immigrated to the U.S at age 12.

Fast forward to January of 2019 she is sworn into the House of Representatives as the first African immigrant, hijab wearing, Muslim woman and immediately begins serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. One notable moment from her stint is the grilling of Elliot Abrams for his role in the U.S backed genocide in Venezula. At that moment, I suspect, establishment forces especially in the Republican party wanted her off the committee, in their eyes she became dangerous and more than that set a dangerous precedent for others.

So the anti-Semitism scandal was the perfect pretext to vilify her and oust her from her position, but despite that and the myriad of attacks she was receiving because of her identities and so on she continued to excel on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and beyond.

She spoke up against the U.S complicity in the suppression of minorities in India (namely Indian Muslims), in a committee meeting she probed into the massacre of indigenous Hondourans and the u.s authorities covering it up. She pointed to the detention of Uyghurs in Guantanamo Bay as playing a role in their designation as 'terrorists' in China, to which an activist with the Uyghur Human rights project agreed. She helped uncover that gross human rights violations towards the people of Cameroon had been committed in part by U.S troops, and when it came to analyzing the Mali coup, she pointed out that the coup's leader Colonel Assimmi Goita,had for a long time fought side by side with U.S special forces, and the list goes on and on.

Now her critiques of this country don't signify she simply hates America and is an ungrateful refugee, that couldn't be farther from the truth. She sees America for all the beauty, promise and opportunities it has, but as a woman who grew up in a refugee camp and survived war she is able to take an unvarnished look at American foreign policy and what it tangibly means for children and all people around the world. After all she was once that little girl, hiding under the bed waiting for the bullets to stop.

"...it [the Foreign Affairs Committee] is not to cosign the stated foreign policy of whatever Administration is in power, it is about oversight, its to critique and advocate for a better path forward, but most importantly it is to make the myth that American foreign policy is intrinsically moral a reality..." -Ilhan Omar

Beinart, Peter. "When Ilhan Omar Asks Questions, Her Colleagues Should Listen." New York Times , 30 Jan. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/opinion/when-ilhan-omar-asks-questions-her-colleagues-should-listen.html.

"Ilhan Omar Democratic politician Ilhan Omar arrived in the United States as a refugee and became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress." Biography, 13 Apr. 2021, www.biography.com/political-figures/ilhan-omar.