Friday, August 13, 2004
Bush, and the political reform of the Arab world
Do you believe that America can bring political reform to the Arab world by force (via the example of Iraq) and other forms of diplomatic, economic and moral pressure? Your answer to that question probably dictates whether you believe that there is a chance at success for representative government in Iraq, and whether success in Iraq can spread to other authoritarian states in the region.
TigerHawk has no experience in the Arab Middle East, so my opinion that representative government can succeed there springs only from faith. I wonder, though, why Islamists and Baathists are so violently opposing representative government in Iraq if it is such a foregone conclusion that it will fail?
Of course, our efforts in Iraq have consequences elsewhere. The war there may yet give rise to a "thousand Bin Ladens," as Hosni Mubarak famously predicted, but might it also spark reform in other Arab countries? Perhaps. Dean Esmay points to this story from Human Rights First, which argues that Bush Administration pressure is helping the cause of reformers in otherwise oppressive Arab countries. Here are the opening 'graphs:
Stepping gingerly around the delicate question of foreign leaders supporting John Kerry, the article points particularly to efforts to reform Islam, which seems to turn a blind eye to tyranny notwithstanding its status as the religion of peace:
Read the whole thing.
TigerHawk has no experience in the Arab Middle East, so my opinion that representative government can succeed there springs only from faith. I wonder, though, why Islamists and Baathists are so violently opposing representative government in Iraq if it is such a foregone conclusion that it will fail?
Of course, our efforts in Iraq have consequences elsewhere. The war there may yet give rise to a "thousand Bin Ladens," as Hosni Mubarak famously predicted, but might it also spark reform in other Arab countries? Perhaps. Dean Esmay points to this story from Human Rights First, which argues that Bush Administration pressure is helping the cause of reformers in otherwise oppressive Arab countries. Here are the opening 'graphs:
Reformers in the Middle East are caught in a tight bind. On principle, they oppose the highhandedness of U.S. policy in the region. But they have to admit it's had some positive effects.
Not only has President Bush gotten rid of Saddam Hussein, the region's most brutal dictator, but his relentless promotion of democracy in the Middle East has also turned up the heat on other regional autocrats and jump-started the reform debate. These days, no Arab government can afford to simply quash increasingly persistent and widespread demands for reform.
Ibrahim Eissa, a young Egyptian satirical novelist, was one of the first to have broken what is almost a public taboo in Egypt and the Arab world: He spoke well of Bush at a conference on reform in the Middle East. Eissa is no enthusiast for U.S. policy. He was willing, though, to state a truth that few liberals in the West or in the Arab world will acknowledge: "Every Arab government is hoping for the defeat of George Bush." Authoritarian Arab leaders, he noted, would love to see a return to the pre-9/11 days when the U.S. turned a blind eye to the undemocratic practices of its regional allies.
Stepping gingerly around the delicate question of foreign leaders supporting John Kerry, the article points particularly to efforts to reform Islam, which seems to turn a blind eye to tyranny notwithstanding its status as the religion of peace:
The new, more vigorous debate in Arab countries is focused not only on governments but also on religion. The Ibn Khaldoun conference, for example, spent an entire session debating reform within Islam. Sadiq al-Mahdi, the former prime minister of Sudan, stated unequivocally his view that "there is a culture within Islam that has a built-in bias toward dictatorship, fanaticism and against women's rights. This culture must be rooted out." The novelist Seyyed al-Qemni condemned authorities who had banned one of his recent books, but he also acknowledged the stirrings of change. "Before Sept. 11, 2001," he said, "those of us who dared to talk about Islamic reform were dubbed as heretics." Now he was speaking openly about the subject in a public forum.
Read the whole thing.
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