We Hope Till Hope Creates

Foreign Affairs Peace in the Middle East requires dealing with nationalism. Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images Last year, in an English-language interview with Sky News Arabia, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack made headlines by arguing that the Middle East is destined for perpetual conflict. The issue, he claimed in a rather puzzling statement, is that there is no word in Arabic for “submit.” The Arabic subtitles to the interview itself provided a translation for “submit.” Moreover, as many viewers were quick to point out, the word “Islam” is derived from an Arabic root that can be rendered as “to submit.” This gaffe revealed a larger problem. Rather than relying on facts and history, policymakers often reach consequential conclusi