Maybe the neocons were onto something with the 'democracy' thing
The neocons have been ridiculed for thinking that the US could impose democracy on the people of the Middle East. Now, a poll taken by Terror Free Tomorrow and reported on by the Wall Street Journal shows that maybe the neocons were right after all.An overwhelming majority of Iranians, 70 percent, favor normal relations and trade with the United States, a nationwide poll conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow has found.Hmmm.
In return for normal relations with the US, most Iranians were willing to recognize Israel and Palestine as independent states,ending Iranian supports for armed groups in Iraq, and adopt a transparent nuclear policy, Terror Free Tomorrow President Ken Ballen wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
The poll also found that only 29 percent of respondents viewed developing nuclear weapons as a top national priority. By contrast, 88 percent said that improving the Iranian economy was a very important priority.
About 80 percent of those polled said they would allow full inspection of Iran's nuclear activities and vow not to develop nuclear arms in return for foreign aid.
Some 61 percent told Terror Free Tomorrow pollsters by phone that they were opposed to the rule of their supreme leader who rules according to religious laws and can not be replaced by popular vote. About 79 percent said they preferred to have their leaders elected by the people.
Only 11 percent said they were strongly opposed to having their leaders elected by popular vote.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:22 PM
2 Comments:
No, Carl, I'm sorry, they are not onto anything. Islam and democracy do not mix, they are like oil and water, and no phony wishful thinking poll is going to change that.
What people seem to forget is that democracy is much more then elections. It includes certain cultural requirements such as freedom of consciousness and thought, ability to compromise, the balance between individualism and collectivism, equality before the law...None of that exists in islam. Just look at what free elections brought everywhere they were introduced in the islamic world: in Iraq and Afghanistan Sharia law which is about as far away from democracy as it gets, is the supreme law of the land. In Algiers, about a decade ago, islamists won the elections in a landslide and the government refused to concede which plunged the country into a civil war going on still today. Elections in the PA brought Hamas to power. In Egypt, the Muslim brotherhood, the quintessential islamic terrorist organization, made big gains(and would have won if Mubarak had not placed restrictions that all but ensured his victory). And last but not least, since the subject of the entry is Iran, they were electing their leader a couple of years ago and elected Mr. I-Got-My-Degree-In-History-From-David-Irving.
Now, the most predictable argument in favour of the neocon democracy exporting is "it was done with Germany, Italy and Japan". Well, Germany and Italy have always belonged to the same cultural and civilisational circle as the UK, US and all of Europe for that matter, they both had traditions in free, independent thought and have had democratic representative institutions before fascism and nazism so what the allies did was a simple restauration of what has been in place before Hitler and Mussolini seized power. Plus they had ruled Germany and Italy 12 and 20-odd years respectively. Compare that to the almost 1,5 millenium that islam dominates the lands of the Middle East and North Africa. It's but a glimmer in comparison. Fascism and nazism, while also total belief systems seeking to dominate all walks of life, had nowhere near enough time to completely indoctrinate the whole Italian and German people as islam did. As for Japan, while they didn't have representative institutions to speak of, ideas of free thought existed there throughout the 20th century. In fact, Japan hosted the Chinese Kuomintang revolutionaries as they were persecuted in their country. Also, the cooperation of the emperor Hirohito, who had among other things, a portrait of Lincoln in his cabinet, helped a lot.
I hope this is not too long a comment, but I feel that the whole "democracy in islam" issue is being studied in a too shallow manner and with disastrous consequences for all.
Dear Carl in Jerusalem, Iranians had a DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED prime minister in 1953, yes, the one that Americans arranged a coup de tat against and installed a vicious dictator called Shah instead. Iranians had democracy before your neocon friends decided to rain terror on Middle Eastern people in the name of democracy. US never, ever wanted democracy in Middle East. If Middle Eastern countries have democracy they would do what is good for their own people not what is good for the Western oil companies and that is not acceptable to the colonial monsters. That is why US is supporting so many dictators around the world and specifically in the oil rich Middle East. Even a five year old Middle Eastern child knows that. CIA helped Saddam and Shah to identify and kill hundreds of pro democracy activists in Iraq and in Iran so there would be no democratic movement succeeding in these countries. And today democracy is a sorry excuse for neocons thievery corporation. If colonial criminals had left Iran alone half a century ago, Iran would have been a shining example of democracy along side other Middle Eastern countries today and they haven't had suffered so much under the Shah, under the Mullah's regime and under the constant threat of nuclear bombs from Israel and US. Don't expect the Iranian people to forget all that and forget about the half a million Iranians killed during the American sponsored Iraq war either. Arrogance and self-righteousness has blinded many Westerners (including some racist commentators on your blog) to the facts and to the history, that is if the "democratic countries" ever allowed their citizens to learn about historic truth. Neocons can cook up whatever ideas their heart desires but the truth is the truth and the truth will prevail sooner or later.
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