Sayyed Fadlullah: The dialogue with The American Administration is not useful, since America is not an element of peace that could produce stability in the region or the Third World, but rather a destabilizing force that exerts pressures and creates turmoil and chaos

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: Following the conference that was held in Qatar lately, calls for the Islamic American dialogue are increasing, despite the fact that the American campaigns are continuing as well as threats of American officials to several countries in the region. Are these conferences serious, and hence there is an interest in attending them?

The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

One of the axioms of dialogue, any dialogue, is that those who are taking part in it should know each other, and that there should be a good will that ensures the execution of the recommendations… When they talk about an American Islamic dialogue, we have first of all to ask what does Islam represent to those who represent it in this dialogue. Does it represent the Message they work for as a movement of life and a religious law? On the other hand, we have to ask: Who represents the American view: Is it the cultural dialogue and study centers, or the American Administration?

We have observed that what is going on, in more than one place, is a dialogue with the Administration or those who represent it, and that they engage in a political dialogue, which remains superficial and never studies the issues in depth. In principle, we are not against dialogue with the Americans, especially with those institutions that are concerned with such issues and with those who want to draw closer to the Arabs and Muslims, and examine the political and cultural facts on the ground to restore the distorted picture about Islam and Muslims in the minds of many Americans. But we want it to be a dialogue between equals and in the framework of an agenda that respects Islamic culture and human values that also include independence and self-determination.

The American Administration is not qualified to play a basic role in any Western Islamic dialogue, for it does not believe in an objective rational dialogue that seeks to learn the other’s point of view and understand his circumstances. It wants to impose its own logic on the Arabs and Muslims but it is the logic that adopts the Israeli viewpoint in full. Its participation in certain dialogues aims at accomplishing informational or political goals that enable it to issue additional threats, the last of which was the defense secretary’s threat of military intervention in Lebanon and the renewed talk about weapons of mass destruction in Syria. These threats came after the passing of the Syrian accountably act, threatening Iran and continuing the direct and indirect war on the Palestinian people.

In the same context, the latest statements by the undersecretary of defense about the instability of Saudi Arabia aim at weakening every Arab center of strength and pushing them to offer additional security and political concessions and make them feel that their protection relies on falling in the laps of the American project that calls for democracy at face value, while it actually wants to extend the dominance of the American empire.

The American Administration is playing a dual game in the Arab and Muslim world. It destabilizes some of these states to drive them to open direct or indirect channels with Israel, and it exploits its occupation of Iraq to intimidate these countries and make them feel that the road to Washington passes through Tel Aviv. At the same time, it pretends to be open for dialogue…

America is not an element of peace that could produce stability in the region or the Third World, but rather a destabilizing force that exerts pressures and creates turmoil and chaos.