Islamophobia's Role in Foreign Policy

[The Northerner]

At this point, we all know well what President Obama's foreign policy looks like. While the rhetoric may be softer than his predecessors, and while's he's ended the war in Iraq, and torture and closed black site prisons, he's expanded drone strikes and become dependent on targeted killing. Shadow wars have erased the meaning of borders even more. He expanded the war in Afghanistan before deciding to plan on a close. He got us involved in a military conflict in Libya without seeking Congressional approval. And on Iran, he's said that a military option is not off the table.

And yet according to Mitt Romney, he's soft and leading from behind. Then again, Mitt Romney needs to say something, because the truth is, he probably wouldn't handle things much differently. And how much of America's foreign policy is shaped by Islamophobia? Alyona discusses with Deepa Kumar, an associate professor of Media Studies and Middle East studies at Rutgers University and author of the book Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and Michael Cohen, a columnist for Foreign Policy's Election 2012 channel and a fellow at the Century Foundation.