[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Granted, he was by no means a democrat, but some of the main facets of his program, e.g. aggressive Westernization, banning the Fez-among other seemingly anachronistic modes of dress-fully integrating women into society, should be implemented in the rest of the Islamic world.

Perhaps we wouldn't be dealing with as many problems today if more people had emulated his model.

Have you ever read The Burning Tigris?

It's probably one of the most fascinating-yet concise-accounts of the Armenian holocaust-both the one that was initiated by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and the 20th century genocide that was perpetrated by the CUP-that has been published in recent memory.

[Tax-chick]

No, I don't think I've read "The Burning Tigris." I think I had it on the library list at some point, but sometimes I lose the list and have to start over :-).

I agree that Ataturk's secularization program was the right way to go. I've had positive relationships with a number of Moslems - Persians, Pakistanis, Turks - in various situations. However, I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that Islam is categorically flawed, and simply must be abandoned if there are going to be functioning, modern societies.