ESCAPING ARAB FAILURE

New York Post ^ | 4/23/04 | RALP PETERS

[kattracks]

Operation Iraqi Freedom has been, among other things, an attempt to give Arabs hope for a better future. The ultimate outcome won't be known for years, but we must prepare ourselves for the possibility that the Arabs are going to fail themselves again.

[goldstategop]

Exactly. Its better to break up Iraq and if the Arabs want to live in the 7th Century, its their choice. Our troops should be pulled back into Kurdistan and we should set up a ready reaction force base there.

[5Madman2]

Spot on analysis-He says what I have thought for a while, and says it well

[Eurotwit]

Well, I have to agree. If worse comes to worse, break the darned place and give the Kurds their state.

Who knows that might just send the shockwaves through Iran and Syria to make those regimes go down.

Iran, which is persian and hasn't totally succumbed to Arab culture I have higher hopes for.

[tkathy]

What a great article. The entire Arab world is NOT A VICTIM!!! Except they are a victim of their own failures.

[XBob]

The real problem is the culture, in the whole mid-east.

Believe it or not, this is reflected in the way people drive and stand in lines. They are like 8 year old children, and don't understand the purpose of organization and instead understand selfishness, me-firstism.

Producing chaos.

[Eurotwit]

I read a story on the troubles a US officer had in organising the new Iraqi security services.

A lot of the Iraqis (who, I assume are "good" ones) did nothing, but try to rat on their collegues in order to curry favour from the American officer.

"Psst, you know what? Ached stole the air conditioner from the hall. Thought I'd let you know."

And, that sort of stuff.

That said, I do have some hopes for Iran. My optimism might not prove justified, but do believe that their culture is different from the arab culture.

That said, there it seems an increasing number of arab commentators who call on the arab world to get their act together, but the voices of the status quo are off course drowning the out. Cultures tend to be stubborn to change in any event, and with the seal of Islam hanging over Arab culture, I guess I am not very optimistic of any rapid changes.

Cheers.

[FreedomPoster]

Blame is the opium of the Arabs, and the sweetest blame for their failures is that directed at the United States (and, of course, Israel). It is our power itself, not its uses, that enrages Arabs trapped in their self-made weakness.

There are plenty of Leftists in the West who blame Western colonialism and support for dictators for the morass that is the Middle East. Fails to explain why a rich oil state like, say, Libya, that has been "on it's own" for some time, is still very backwards. Be prepared for this if you are dealing with Lefties on this subject.

[monocle]

It is not the Arab culture but the overlay of Islam. Iran is a case in point in that the overlay of radical Islam is what has brought Iran to its present position. I would wager that the degree of backwardness correlates highly with the extent of the religous involvement with the civil government.

[Eurotwit]

I agree.

See my post #7.

I think it is slightly difficult to often seperate Islam and arab culture, since Islam is largely a product of arab culture.

In the early conquests of Islam the conquered areas were quickly "arabised" However, somehow Persian managed to withstand some of the arabisation (Turkey too).

Cheers.

[tessalu]

The answer might be to give the Kurds more power in Iraq, for they seem to be governing themselves okay, and not acting like savages.

[tessalu]

Islam is based on evil, so why should anyone expect anything decent or honorable from them?

[Leisler]

Palestinians celebrating the news of the 9/11 crashes and World Trade Tower collapses. Notice the dolts desire to where American cammo and baseball hats.

[GBA]

It is said, "by their fruits, ye shall know them." That said, if Satan were to create a religion, I believe its followers and the results of that religion would look a lot like what's going on in the middle east. Satanic Verses? That's what it looks like from here.

[jocon307]

"Satanic Verses?"

You know, I never even thought about that being the title of Rushdi's book. I guess at the time I thought he was just doing it to be sensational (which of course he was) and although I realized immediately that he was going to be in big trouble with religious Muslims, I just never thought of the book title being a comment on Islam.

But that was back in the good old days, when I was old fashioned enough to call Islam Mohameddism and thought nothing about it. The Muslims really should have stayed out of our world, as I, for one and I know I'm not alone, have gone from benign ignorance to basic contempt.

[Monty22]

There's a reason why the middle east is so screwed up. It starts with an I and ends with an M.

[Monty22]

The 'Satanic Verses' don't mean the whole koran, but parts of it that are pretty well known and were edited over time. They involve the 'daughters of allah', proving that it was a ripoff of the old meccan pagan system.

[wingster]

And those who will not defend their own freedom do not deserve to be defended by others.

Someone tell the French that too!

[Prince Charles]

And those who will not defend their own freedom do not deserve to be defended by others.

Hear, hear.

[Flipyaforreal]

Wow, what a great article. It really does seem hopeless that they will EVER drag themselves out of the 7th century and join the rest of the world much less stop trying to drag us down with them and kill/convert us all. :(