Myths Of Arab Democracy

CBSNews ^ | July 20, 2006 | Dick Meyer

[A. Pole]

The argument [by George Will and others] goes like this: Hamas gained state-based power through semi-legitimate Palestinian elections encouraged by the Bush Doctrine. Hezbollah gained power because a genuine popular protest - the so-called Cedar Revolution - pushed Syrian military forces out of Lebanon, leaving a power vacuum in the south for Hezbollah to fill; Hezbollah then won parliamentary seats and thus legitimacy in free elections supposedly fostered by the Bush doctrine. This vastly overstates the power administration's magic wand of democracy has in the region.

Color/plant coded revolutions bump

[Alberta's Child]

I think the author has captured a lot of good points here in a fairly short article.

[Valin]

Darn it! Another perfectly fine opportunity to flame someone shot. :-)

[Valin]

I do know that the Bush doctrine does not apply to friendly and stable semi-totalitarian Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt

Wanna bet? what the wruter doesn't seem to get is the Bush doctrine on spreading Democracy is not a 'one size fits all' kind of thing. But then I suspect there are many things he doesn't get.

[SoCal Pubbie]

"Many American intellectuals of the left and right who supported the war, or who did not clearly oppose it, are fervently rooting for democracy to take hold in the Mideast because that is their last chance for redemption, the last remaining justification they can use for losing so many American lives - and others - in Iraq. I can sympathize with that. "

This statement, of course, is the biggest red herring of the piece. We went to war in Iraq because it was led by a government that was hostile to the United States and had developed weapons of mass destruction in the past, and was clearly intent on doing so in the future. It was given every chance in the world to clarify it's status on the development of such devices and refused to do so. In a post 911 world that was unacceptable, period. That Saddam was apparently willing to lose his power, his sons, and his country for want of open disclosure was his problem, not ours.

[jmaroneps37]

George Will is wrong as usual. Because Democracy is occassionally abused ( Hitler, kind of, sort of came to power legally ) means nothing. To say or even imply that Democracy is only for "westerners" is wrong. To imply or say that "democracy can not be 'impossed'" is plain wrong. We "impossed" Democracy on Japan and they had just as long a national history of not being democratic as you can find.

[Tripleplay]

Give a man a fish and he will eat for one day. Teach him to fish and he will eat every day.

We are trying to teach them to "fish"

Will they learn?

[A. Pole]

Because Democracy is occassionally abused ( Hitler, kind of, sort of came to power legally ) means nothing.

What?!!! How can you say it "means nothing"? It means A LOT!

[Rummyfan]

I think the more relevant question is 'can democracy take root in Islamic countries?'

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also

2006israelwar or WOT

..................

[Peisistratus]

"We "impossed" Democracy on Japan and they had just as long a national history of not being democratic as you can find."

That worked for one reason only. We had utterly crushed Japan. Unless we have the will to do that to the Middle East... well, "democracy" is quite incompatible with Islam just as it was incompatible with the Emperor cult in Japan.

[Big Digger]

I don't waste a lot of my life reading George Will.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Democracy is the rule of fools by fools.

[Fishrrman]

The reason that our attempts to "establish democracy" in the Middle East are producing unintended results are due to our own misconceptions and failure to think the process through - not because of theirs.

The underlying truth is this:
"Democracy" among Islamics will produce different results than "democracy" among non-Islamics.

These "results" - the ascent to power of terrorist-based Islamic extremists - may seem unfathomable to us, but they are _normal_ for Islamic-based societies in which the Quran is a factor. Give Islamics the power to do so - that is to say, give them elections - and they will elect groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Whip up the ingredients of "democracy" in your Mideast mixin' bowl, and that's a very likely outcome.

If one accepts this premise - and I _DO_ - than one must also accept the premise that Islam and democracy (at least OUR notion of democracy, in that it produces a peaceful nation) are incompatible. I believe that, and I believe there is no solution to that problem.

There is only one possible way to a peaceful Mideast, and to a peaceful world, for that matter: Islam must be eradicated.

Then - and ONLY then - will we see democracy in the Mideast that resembles democracy in The West.

- John

[hosepipe]

Democracy is Mob Rule.. Islam has been ruled by Mob Rule for 1625 years.. Can islam be ruled by Mob Rule? Absolutely.. Sharia law IS Mob Rule....

[lucysmom]

Thus, the invention of democracy is unlikely to be employed widely in Arab world; that is no change from all recorded human history.

Iran's attempts at democracy have been killed twice; once by the British, 1921, and once by the CIA, 1953.

[varon]

Because Democracy is occassionally abused ( Hitler, kind of, sort of came to power legally ) means nothing.

You equate coming to power legally with democracy? Would you say that the former Soviet Union which held regular elections and had historically higher voter turnout than any Western nation, was a democracy?

I'm curios about your reasoning process to arrive at some of your, ahem, bizarre assertions.