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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Who's Afraid of Benazir Bhutto?
Posted Dec 27th 2007 4:00PM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Breaking News, Islamic Radicals, Dictators
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Reader Comments ( Page 14 of 14)
196. #178
first of all, i wish to send my condolences to the family of ms. benazir bhutto. and the people of pakistan. hopefully, pakistanis will let cooler heads prevail in their crisis.
mr. gassett,
your comments about the usa, britain, france, and germany are not totally accurate. after wwi, certain nations founded the league of nations (precursor to the united nations). britain and france were given "mandates" to rule over certain territories in the middle east, asia, and africa.
needless to say, they did not do a very good job of it. t.e. laurence (laurence of arabia) was an advocate of independence for the arabic people for many years. but he did not prevail because of the attitudes of brittania. spreading democracy was not in the minds of britain, france, and the usa.
after wwii, there was pressure to let go of these "mandates". none of it had to do with the spread of democracy. there was meddling with other countries who tried to implement "democracy" up to the 70's. examples are: iran, vietnam, and chile. again, spreading democracy was not in the minds of the western states.
yes, it does take some research to find these things out because they will not be found in your usual text books. but they can be found.
i say these things because while the usa is the best country in the world to live in, the usa has not been 100% right 100% of the time.
enough of that.
as for mr. d'souza's comments, iraq does not have a pro-american democracy. that government is too weak for democracy. the shi'a dominated government does not want sunn'i involvment in it. meanwhile, the kurds are getting on with life and making money in the process. which by the way scares turkey. and iran. and everyone else in the region.
i do not see anyone else risking their lives for what they believe in. and that includes the politicians that are running for president.
i salute ms. bhutto and others who risked their life for the better in this world.
vrmchris
vrmchris at 2:29AM on Dec 31st 2007
197. Jonas...
Indeed! If this conflict were truly about radical Muslims and their objections to what they regard as immorality then they would have bombed Bangkok's Soi Cowboy, Patpong District, or Nana Plaza where degenerate men routinely rent young (at times underage) women for casual sex. But first, they would have strafed Amsterdam's red light district, where young women pose in windows hoping to attract a paying customer; and casual drug use permeates the air!
Radical Muslims would have attacked Germany where prostitution is legal. They would have attacked Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. They would have bombarded the casinos of Monaco. They would concentrate their efforts on destroying the poppy fields of Afghanistan or halting the flow of opiates out of Asia's Golden Triangle. They would fund operations in Columbia in an effort to combat the drug lords who supply the world with cocaine. They would sign up to fight the senseless slaughter of humanity in Darfur.
You're right, Jonas. If this were truly about the immorality of humanity, America would barely make the top 20 list of targets around the world. And Las Vegas would have been the top American target on their list. By comparison, the WTC (a hub of legitimate global commerce) would have been one of the LAST targets on their list.
Paul at 5:18AM on Dec 31st 2007
198. I have reiterated again, again and again. Suspension of Pose Comitatus Act, thanks to John Warner Defense Act, allows bush to suspend Posse Comitatus, declare Marshall Law, suspend the Constitution. In Fascism We Trust, for as long as the moron wants.
This is what it took. this was due to Musharraf, CIA and a push from bush. Now, he has the reason to do this. I have said over and over, Pakistan, preceding Mdm. Bhuttos assassination, Musharraf and Marshall Law, etc, was a dry run.............Point Made!
Gasset you are an ass, until you learn Constitutional whats and wherefors, shut the F##K UP! I am a PATRIOT, IT IS PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF THAT WILL TAKE THIS COUNTRY BACK, GET OUT OF OUR WAY!!!!
rhodalee at 10:07AM on Dec 31st 2007
199. #19,
"By comparison, the WTC (a hub of legitimate global commerce) would have been one of the LAST targets on their list."
I think you missed a minor point. the WTc was a hub of Western commerce. The key word being "Western". Destroying a brothel, strip joint, or sex resort does not draw attention.
There was recently a group of documentaries regarding war correspondents and why they do what they do and how it effects them. One filmed piece involved a friendly fire incident in which a group of British journalists was involved. They actually caught it on tape. This is just for background info. This correspondent in another documentary , not the same as this series, talked about meeting Bin Laden, back in the 1980's in Afghanistan. I he talked about how Bin Laden had wanted to kill the group of Western journalist who were visiting the site at which he was. This was before he became well known and influential. This was not a group of American journalists but European. Bin Laden's problem was that they were Westerners, non-believers. He did not spout anything about sex, drugs, etc. He just wanted someone to kill them. He even offered money to any mujahadeen to do it. He was refused by the others. His response was to say the least, interesting. I would let the correspondent's telling the event speak for itself.
Once again, I believe it is a matter of being a "non-believer in the true faith"
M2D5 at 3:19PM on Dec 31st 2007
200. Mustafa,
Perhaps you should look into local resources that teach high school level mathematics and statistics. You don't seem to understand the concept of per capita. If a given group has a higher incidence of something graphed as a rate per 100,000, there is no possible way to conclude "most" from any small group having that higher incidence.
Assuming your inability to grasp basic mathematic concepts reflects your overall intelligence, how exactly were you able to type your message or even string that many words in a row? It is a puzzlement, indeed.
john at 3:32PM on Jan 2nd 2008
201. By spouting anti-Islamic hate speech D'Souza, you are only furthering the 'Atheist Agenda' by helping to point out that religion, when taken literally leads to fanaticism. Such as Muslim terrorist bombings. Or guys named D'souza using the internet to further his debauched and perverted agenda.
The reason fanaticism is so prevalent in the region is because of the un-educated majority. Partially because the US and the west have purposefully played sides, arming one group against the other, ie Iraq against Iran, Afghanistan against Russia, so that the countries that hold the world's most vital(and depleted) resource don't get powerful enough to hold that resource over the west's head. And in the meantime thousands of innocents have died. Something Bhutto wanted to stop. Now she's dead. And half the west didn't even know who she was. Partially because bloggers who were supposed to talk about her, used it as an outlet to spew mind numbing hate speech instead. Way to go dude.
Hope you got what you wanted, cause now thousands in Pakistan never will. So much for the famed Christian compassion huh?
thorin at 8:11PM on Jan 7th 2008