Posted on 05/16/2007 9:26:35 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
In a rare appearance of a female Middle Eastern leader, Qatar's first lady argued Islam has been incorrectly blamed for the rise of extremist violence when the real culprits include poverty, a lack of political freedom and "failed U.S. policies."
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council Tuesday that societies worldwide were failing to provide jobs, hope and a feeling of greater good for their citizens.
As a result, youth "are seduced by a global culture of violence that is fueled by cynicism," said Sheikha Mozah, dressed in pants, a business blazer and with her hair covered.
"In the Middle East, youth feel politically paralyzed, and are doubly excluded. Like the general population, they cannot choose their governments and are severely limited in venues of self-expression," she said. "Certainly, failed U.S. policies in the Middle East have provided a fertile ground for radical groups."
Her 15-day U.S. tour includes stops in New York, Los Angeles and Houston to push her country's vision for the future of the Middle East and expand sister campuses with U.S. universities. Outside of more liberal countries like Israel and Lebanon, public appearances of Middle Eastern first ladies are rare, much less by one giving speeches and opining on world problems.
But over the past two decades, gas-wealthy Qatar has become one of the leading proponents of reform in the region. Qatar has women in government posts, held nationwide municipal elections in 2003 and several U.S. universities have opened branches in the nation's Education City.
The tiny Gulf country is home to the Al-Jazeera satellite television network and Washington's Mideast military headquarters, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It regularly hosts international conferences of the World Trade Organization, World Economic Forum and others.
Sheikha Mozah is the second of three wives of Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and is a leading voice for increased female participation in public life and education.
Answering questions after the speech, the first lady rejected the idea that Islam is the reason for limited education of women in many Middle Eastern countries.
"Muslim countries prohibiting the education of women is not because they are Muslim," she said. "There are other cultural aspects" that guide those decisions.
She said it was important to educate women because both sexes had to "share in the responsibility of their societies in the Middle East."
Without singling out any leader or country, she said the youth in much of the Middle East had lost faith in their rulers, which made some attracted to extremist movements offering them a sense of purpose.
But she also criticized Western democracies, referencing U.S. participation in Iraq in questions afterward.
"We live in times when we have to swallow the bitter pill of hypocrisy called Western democracy or else be injected with the poison of extremism," she said.
She criticized an increasingly globalized world economy, saying that hyper competition had created a world of "consumerism and survival of the richest, of the man with the biggest gun has the loudest voice."
She said defeating extremist violence and other ills would require "a major paradigm shift," but didn't offer concrete details of solutions.
Despite all the negatives, she said she believed young people would pave the way to a more humane global community.
"You are probably ready to diagnose me with a bad case of naivety, but I can bear this diagnosis," she said in closing. "For I believe idealism is exactly the antidote we need to the cynicism of our times."
Names? It looks like she’s been named for more than one person!
Islam has stagnated and not undergone any reformation.
Apparently, it did. At least seven times, in fact.
Sharp looker. If her thinking was half as sharp it would be useful. Although then she would probably be dead, so I dunno.
I'm sure this second wife regularly dines on stale heels of bread and sleeps on bare bedsprings....
And she has the nerve to refer to Western "hypocrisy."
So why is it that the MSM always lets these propogandists get away with ignoring the rest of the world, where US involvement in the ME is not remotely a cause for muslims to act like child-raping/murdering animals?
Lol!
Oh yeah- poverty, that’s the ticket!
Poor people everywhere hack off heads and blow up airliners and buildings!
Poor people everywhere are SO despondent they look to their RELIGION for guidance and support.
That’s what Muslims are doing!
And in the WRITTEN WORD of your ‘religion’, you female sub-human according to Allah, are all the instructions for the death and terror and barbarism ISLAM is foisting upon this planet.
It’s about Islam. It’s in your ‘holy’ book! Unless she’s willing to edit the Koran, there it is! No other religion’s scripture demands world domination and wholesale slaughter to achieve it. Poor Christians and Jews look to the Bible for comfort when they are downtrodden. They find love and inspiration.
Poor Muslims look to the Koran and listen to their Imams- and what do they find? Hatred, brutality and instructions to kill for power.
Who the hell is she to comment anyway? Islam considers her nothing. She should put a black sheet over her head and behave, just like the Koran says. Bad Muslim!!
But they won't even address the issue because it would involve admitting that the fault lies in their own societies/religion.
She better say all those nice things about Islam or they will stone her to death.
My BS meter is pegged and about to break the dail.
They never do. They have learned that we tune out their standard, whiney "double-standard-on-Israel" lament, so they don't bother with it as often.
You are probably ready to diagnose me with a bad case of naivety...
If that means the same as having your head up your patootie, then you're right, lady. Poor thing.
That's right. The old "let them eat falafel" attitude.
Poverty - in Islamic countries this is caused by Islam.
Lack of freedom - again, in Islamic countries this is caused by Islam. Actually, a fair translation of "Islam" is "Lack of Freedom"
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