Who's Afraid of Benazir Bhutto?

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Who's Afraid of Benazir Bhutto?

Posted Dec 27th 2007 4:00PM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Breaking News, Islamic Radicals, Dictators

In my book The Enemy at Home I quoted Benazir Bhutto saying, "Within the Muslim world, there is a reaction against the sexual overtones that come across in American mass culture. America is viewed through this prism as an immoral society." This was one of the most astute explanations of why the propaganda of the radical Muslims has been so successful in recruiting traditional Muslims to the anti-American cause.

Bhutto's words were echoed also by the West's leading historian of Islam, Bernard Lewis. Reviewing what he calls "the standard litany of American offenses recited in the lands of Islam," Lewis ends with this one. "Yet the most powerful accusation of all is the degeneracy and debauchery of the American way of life." Many Americans, both on the right and the left, don't want to hear this message. And so we have been subjected to the same tired nonsense about how the radical Muslims are against freedom, oppose the Iraq invasion, blah, blah, blah.

Yes, the radical Muslims are upset about Iraq, but that's because Iraq is a pro-American Muslim democracy. Such a thing has not previously existed in the Middle East. It provides a startling alternative to the two kinds of tyranny that are widespread in the region: Islamic tyranny of the Iran variety, and secular tyranny such as we find with Musharraf in Pakistan, Mubarak in Egypt, Abdullah in Jordan, Assad in Syria, and in the Gulf Kingdoms.

Who doesn't want democracy to succeed in the Muslim world? Not counting the cultural left in America, there are two groups that are working overtime to subvert the democratic idea. The first is our enemies, namely the radical Muslims. These Bin Laden types would have an obvious incentive to kill Benazir Bhutto, and not surprisingly Musharraf has accused them of being the perpetrators of Bhutto's assassination. If Musharraf is right, the radicals did it in order to subvert the January election, destabilize Musharraf, and sow the seeds of chaos from which an extremist takeover becomes possible. This would be a nightmare prospect for the United States.

A second possibility is that Musharraf is himself behind the murder. After all, there is a second group that doesn't want democracy to work for Muslims. These are the secular despots who are allied with the United States. These thugs appeal for U.S. support basically by saying, "We are corrupt goons, but what is the alternative? Would you rather have the Bin Laden guys in power?" And typically the Americans heave a sigh and continue supporting what is perceived as the lesser evil.

Although Musharraf is no friend of democracy, and is hardly above wiping out one of the main opposition leaders, in this case it seems rather unlikely that he would be the culprit. The reason is that Musharraf runs the obvious risk that he would be blamed for the assassination, and now there are rioting crowds in Pakistan who are pointing the finger precisely in his direction. Also Musharraf gains from national stability, which has in the past allowed him to repel his opponents both from the democratic camp (such as Nawaz Sharif and Bhutto) as well as the Islamic radicals who sometimes use the language of democracy but seek to establish a Taliban-style government in Islamabad.

Who, then, is most likely behind the Bhutto assassination? Somewhere, I suspect, the Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are smiling, having done it again through the mechanism of their suicide squads. And once again America is in a very awkward situation, having no choice now but to support Musharraf while quietly preparing for the possibility that his reign may come to an abrupt end.

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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 14)

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1. http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com

prffsrx at 4:43PM on Dec 27th 2007

2. Blacks commit the majority of crime in the US.

Cultural Relativists are thereby directly responsible for the majority of crimes being committed by black people. By their reasoning all crimes blacks commit are "cultural"

Whether be it stabbing and raping women, robbing businesses, and applying double standards when using the word "nigger" in public, we can all expect the cultural relativists to be there to tell us that "this is just a part of black culture" and you wouldn't understand.

Here's THE statistics:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm

Ponder this one:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/orace.png

Mustafa at 4:45PM on Dec 27th 2007

3. There is no degeneracy and debauchery in America. The only bad thing in America and in the world is those evil religious lunatics who want to paint the ground, the stones, the trees, the birds, the sky, the future and everyone's clothing the color black.

The Goddess Athena at 5:01PM on Dec 27th 2007

4. Dinesh,

I think you stick with denigrating atheists, because you keep spouting the same old nonsense (in what is another pathetic attempt to flog a book), and that is that Isamists hate American culture.

I have commented here before, and I will do so again: Islamists hate everyone who isn't a Muslim (and a lot of Muslims who aren't "Muslim enough")! That is why Islamists kill Buddhist schoolgirls in Thailand, have killed millions of Hindus in India, are persecuting Manicheans, Copts, Zoroastrians, etc etc.

American culture has nothing to do with the atrocities in Darfur, or the fact of Islamic conquest and butchery from it's very beginnings.

Also, to repeat myself, I will never give up our values in terms of personal freedom, equality of genders, separation of church and state, and rule of law, just to appease some murderous idiots.

David at 5:03PM on Dec 27th 2007

5. Whose afraid? The Islamo-Fascists are as more and more of them are renouncing Islam all over the world and rejecting that False Prophet Mohammed.

Maurice at 5:13PM on Dec 27th 2007

6. The first casualty of war is truth. Benazir Bhutto did not have to return to Pakistan. Benazir did not have to die. Who sent her and why now? The timing of the events could be staged to impact Democracy for good or evil? Allowing her to participate in a terror-assisted suicide makes her a Martyr, but it also ends the cozy relationship with Bush and Pakistan. Where were the high value 9-11 thugs found? Where did the nuclear information begin to spread? What did the Waterboarding information reveal? Why now? Injecting the fear of terrorism into the election manipulates our Democracy. We need to clean house. We need to be "Fearless" and elect someone we can trust. Name someone you can trust? I trust John Edwards. Ending poverty should be the World's top priority because poverty feeds the cycle of terror. Bin Laden wasn't on those planes. Rich people want to rule the world after the chaos.

Cecil Jones at 5:11PM on Dec 27th 2007

7. Muhammad was, is, and forever will be a False Prophet!!! Muhammad had a demon. That's why he encouraged his followers to serve the moon god idol who demanded the killing others as they kill themselves, also pillage and destroy their neighbors. Muhammad’s miracles were false as well as his words.

Muslims, now acknowledging the violent and barbaric inception and the devilish beliefs of their religion, are now in a race to redefine what they stand for today. As a result, they are now forced to disregard the teachings of Muhammad (founder of Islam)

What do terrorist imams say now after their own natural disaster! WILL THEY NOW TELL THEIR PEOPLE THAT ALLAH IS ANGRY WITH THEM MORE THAN THE US BECAUSE OF THEY ARE THE PEOPLE OF SATAN WHO BLOW UP THE INNOCENT AND CUT OFF HEADS?

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/moongod.htm

Emir Chavez at 5:30PM on Dec 27th 2007

8. #2???????

Rah at 5:37PM on Dec 27th 2007

9. Yikes! The crazies are out in droves tonight. Is it a full moon?

K at 5:38PM on Dec 27th 2007

10. Blacks do not commit the majority of crimes in America. Consider the high cost of white collar crimes...also consider your ignorance which is the highest crime as there is no reason for it.

Jay at 5:47PM on Dec 27th 2007

11. DD lies again: "... secular tyranny such as we find ... in the Gulf Kingdoms."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia#Government

The central institution of the Saudi Arabian government is the Saudi monarchy. The Basic Law of Government adopted in 1992 declared that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by the sons and grandsons of the first king, Abd Al Aziz Al Hoati. It also claims that the Qur'an is the constitution of the country, which is governed on the basis of the Sharia (Islamic Law).

Joe Bob at 6:02PM on Dec 27th 2007

12. www.thereligionofpeace.com
Read America Alone by Mark Steyn. Today!

mary at 6:07PM on Dec 27th 2007

13. Dinesh...

Care to stay on topic?

Paragraph 1: America is judged as a society of perverts for sexual permissiveness by radical muslims.

Paragraph 2: See paragraph 1, and add Americans are in denial of this judgement.

Paragraph 3: Radical muslims are upset by the idea of democracy in the middle east.

Paragraph 4: These radical muslims don't want democracy to be established in the middle east (nor do lefty americans.)

Paragraph 5: Or Pakistan's leader might be to blame.

Paragraph 6: But Pakistan's leader has less to gain and more to lose by assassinating her.

Paragraph 7: Radical muslims did it.

The clif notes of this Dinesh article. Not to be a little more specific with my responses.

First off, this is nothing new from Dinesh. He has this deep seated belief that if only America was a little less perverted then stuff like 9/11 wouldn't have happened. And he's right. I have no doubt that if we put Britany Speares in a burka then people like Osama would have far less material to demonize us with. I'm sure he'd rail on about men not having stylish enough beards in America. Or how we're not upholding the Jihad against Canada, where they're such sexual perverts.

The fact is that there is no ammount of moral appeasement you can offer to some one so convinced of their religious morality that they feel comfortable killing others. So long as an excuse is needed for hate the there is no lack of fingers to point and demonize. "Those Japanese! They're to blame! They refuse the teachings of Mohammed. And they don't make their women wear sacks! The PERVERTS."

And if by some miracle we did reach a point were muslims in Kashmiri caves approved of our sexual mores, would they not have truly won? Would not their death and murder have accomplished their aims to change American society? Sure. We're less likely to suffer the violence of a terrorist attack, but at what greater cost to the integrity and virtue of the principles of this country?

So much for the preamble of this article. Next, Dinesh exploys his usual set of sweeping and inaccurate generalizations. Did he overlook the fact that Turkey has been a democratic ally of America since the second world war? Or Egypt, an equal member of NATO? Of course he explicitly dismisses Iran's democratic process as a form of tyrrany while at the same time overlooking the fact that Hamas was democratically elected into positions of power.

Democracy is not a panacea. It is a messy and disorganized method for deciding the distrabution of power, subject to manipulation and corruption and public deception. Without legal protections it is a monster that can crush and purge undesirable minorities from the country. But there is no other form of government that so greatly reflects the desires and will of the people.

The rest of the article is purely supposition, and it is a supposition that I share. I'm pretty sure that Al quida is laughing their butts off and I hope that the rest of Pakistan will rally around her memory and give them the comeuppance they deserve.

I just wish that Dinesh could have offered it without four paragraphs of trash before it.

Somber at 6:09PM on Dec 27th 2007

14. "Blacks do not commit the majority of crimes in America"

What country do you live in? If you're in America- anywhere within the continental US, then turn on tonight's news and more than likely there will be a black person's mug shot for some crime he committed.

You cannot back your claims with solid sources like I did and therefore must consider yourself a failure.

Mustafa at 7:07PM on Dec 27th 2007

15. Nobody said anything about this comment from dinesh the groinless, archenemy of pelvic atheism:

'Yes, the radical Muslims are upset about Iraq, but that's because Iraq is a pro-American Muslim democracy.'

When did this happen? While I was eating lunch? Are the troops home yet?

Clif Kuplen at 7:05PM on Dec 27th 2007

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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.