ARABS' LAST CHANCE IF IRAQ'S DEMOCRACY FAILS . . .

The New York Post ^ | August 24, 2006 | Ralph Peters

[Clintonfatigued]

WITH the best intentions, President Bush recently declared that it's racist to say that Arabs can't build democracies. Is it?

I made the same claim in the run-up to the first Iraqi elections, when Western leftists desperate for Iraq to fail tried to block the vote by claiming that the population wasn't ready.

Iraqis deserved their chance. They got it. They voted. Three times. Each time along confessional or ethnic lines. They elected ward bosses, not national leaders. We could have skipped the balloting and apportioned legislative seats by population shares.

Iraq doesn't have a democracy in any meaningful sense. It isn't even a nation. Iraqis didn't vote for freedom. They voted for revenge against each other.

[traditional1]

"Iraq doesn't have a democracy in any meaningful sense. It isn't even a nation. Iraqis didn't vote for freedom. "

The same could be said for any country, including the U.S., where more than ONE political party exists, I guess.

This is some kind of contorted logic at work, here......

[Admin Moderator]

You may not circumvent the excerpt rules by posting more of the article later in the thread.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

I understand Col. Peters' frustration, but his column is more of a vent than a coherent analysis.

Iraqis deserved their chance. They got it. They voted. Three times. Each time along confessional or ethnic lines. They elected ward bosses, not national leaders.

So in the US african-american districts do not send african-americans to Congress? Irish Catholic districts do not send Irish Catholics to congress?

Can it excite Iraqis to a spirit of mortal sacrifice in defense of a constitutional system? The terrorists, insurgents and militiamen will die for their beliefs. If other Iraqis will not risk their lives - in decisive numbers - to seize their unique chance at freedom, there is no hope.

The Iraqi police and army have been sacrificing in large numbers, especially by suicide bombers targeting recruiting stations and police facilities, yet Iraqis continue to sign up in large numbers.

The nonsensical Arab insistence that all Arab problems are the fault of America and Israel (or the Crusades) ignores the fact that Arab civilization has been in decline for 700 years - and has been in utter disarray for the last 200.

The advantage of elected governments is that arabs will have no one to blame but themselves for their continued failures. It is easier in a dictatorship for people to believe their problems are always caused by someone else, like the Americans or the Jews. If they elect their own governments, then the people can only blame their own leaders. If Gaza elects Hamas, then Hamas they get - and they have to bear the consequences of their choice, which may mean attacks by Israel because of the actions of their elected government, Hamas.

[PetroniusMaximus]

The problem with the Arab word is a spiritual one - Islam.

This problem will not be solved by free markets and "democracy". Islam, unlike Christianity, has not prepared it's adherents to be free people. If that makes me a racist - so be it.

Am afraid history will judge the current administration as well intentioned by highly naive.

[Clintonfatigued]

"The problem with the Arab word is a spiritual one - Islam"

You should make that your tagline.

[himno hero]

what we have as democracy is a product of over 2 thousand years of social evolution , economic evolution, political developement and all the interrelated social infrastructure that ties it together. those other fools?got stuck in 672 or therabouts. to attempt to implant democracy is about the same as dropping a camelherder into the seat of a f16 and asking him to fly it. they have zero understanding of the underpinnings and infrastructure necessary to fly a democracy

consequently they will never understand freedom

[spinestein]

Iraq has had no direct knowledge of democracy for its entire history. In 2003, an outside force swooped in and removed their perpetual dictatorship and declared that elections will be held soon so start preparing. Three years later, the majority of citizens have participated in free elections several times and have voted on a provisional government, a constitution and now fully accountable leadership at all levels.

And some people still bitch because this doesn't measure up to the standards they've come to expect from living in a fully functioning democracy which began in the 1700s.

[newzjunkey]

Each time along confessional or ethnic lines. They elected ward bosses, not national leaders. We could have skipped the balloting and apportioned legislative seats by population shares.

I guess by that logic blacks don't either since they're 9/10 lockstep Democrat voters.

[Clintonfatigued]

I take it from your tagline that you're from California.

[spinestein]

[This problem will not be solved by free markets and "democracy".]



I disagree. It's going to be pretty tough for the pious "Mohommad" to convince his neighbors to give up their blue jeans, iPods, cell phones, air conditioners, Toyota's, computers and indoor plumbing and return to a more humble life of worshiping Allah all day once these things have been introduced to significant numbers of everyday citizens, Muslim or not.

[PetroniusMaximus]

"And some people still bitch because this doesn't measure up to the standards they've come to expect..."

Where, in the Islamic world, has democracy/freedom spontaneously arisen and survived? Feel free to choose from any period in it's 1,500 year history.

[PetroniusMaximus]

"I disagree. It's going to be pretty tough for the pious "Mohommad" to convince his neighbors to give up their blue jeans, iPods, cell phones, air conditioners, Toyota's, computers and indoor plumbing and return to a more humble life of worshiping Alla"


Can't happen? Two words.

British Muslims.

[JSteff]

I disagree with your disagree....

" It's going to be pretty tough for the pious "Mohommad" to convince his neighbors to give up their blue jeans, iPods, cell phones, air conditioners, Toyota's, computers and indoor plumbing and return to a more humble life of worshiping Allah all day once these things have been introduced to significant numbers of everyday citizens, Muslim or not."

Explain China then. The Chinese people have all those things, or access to all those things yet there is no push over there to democratize.. nor in Iran. We can not doubt the power of theocracy or a powerful state.

[StoneWall Brigade]

right on!

[Nuc1]

"The problem with the Arab word is a spiritual one - Islam."

I totally agree. And it is not just the Arab world. Russia, China, North Korea, Pol Pot...wherever there is great misery and murder and death, you find antipathy towards spiritual matters, especially Christianity.

[spinestein]

[Where, in the Islamic world, has democracy/freedom spontaneously arisen and survived?]

Nowhere.

And that's the SAME answer that you get if you ask the question "Where in the history of the EARTH has democracy/freedom spontaneously arisen and survived?" NOWHERE.

If you think that we invented it here in America purely on our own, without outside help to achieve it, and without hindrance from people living here who were loyal to the old dictatorship, then you don't know American history. Some doses of reality are due for way too many Americans who smugly take our democracy for granted as if we are deserving of it simply because we ARE Americans.

1) Our democracy would not even have been conceived were it not for a few European countries blazing the trail for us with independent thought and free market ideas which were encouraged to spread here.

2) Our democracy would have been stillborn were it not for our allies who helped us fight for and keep our liberty simply because it benefited them economically or politically to help us.

3)Our democracy was grossly incomplete for nearly 200 years until the acknowledgment that first slaves and then women might also deserve "inalienable" rights.



True democracy, EVERYWHERE it exists now, has needed lots of outside help as well as inside determination to develop properly, and has always needed plenty of time for it to become an established habit. A little more than half of the nations on Earth now have democratically accountable governments and the number is increasing all the time. Now is the perfect opportunity for key countries in the Middle East to take their turn to evolve and join the modern political world, and it will take time and effort and blood, but it won't happen at all if too many people begin to believe the arrogant snobbery that everyone who's "entitled" to democracy already has it.

[jonno]

You pegged it.

[Zack Nguyen]

The problem with the Arab word is a spiritual one - Islam. This problem will not be solved by free markets and "democracy".

I am beginning to think that Christianity may be the most effective precursor to democracy and free markets.