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 2 of 14)
16. Who stood to lose the most - and the fastest - should Bhutto be elected? The Pakistani Army.
Diane at 7:29PM on Dec 27th 2007
17. Wow... Dinesh is using this woman's assassination in order to plug one of his books?
That's a special kind of pathetic, Dinesh.
You complain about atheists and Liberals and their lack of respect and morals, but only a pitiful, soulless bastard would try to capitalize on this woman's death.
Dan at 7:35PM on Dec 27th 2007
18. Mr. D'Souza
Your entire premise is flawed when you begin your essay with the "they hate us for our debauchery"tripe!
Radical muslims, indeed most of the middle east, hate us(Americans) because of our empirical meddling in their affairs since the early 20-th century. Indeed western culture has been meddling with them for centuries( do the crusades mean anything to anyone?)
I didn't realize that Iraq was a pro American democracy, If so lets end this war now!
No country ruled by a religious dogma can be free,be it christian, muslim, jewish, hindu or whatever. Strict following of religious law prohibits freedoom. If christian fundamentalists were to take over the US, many of our actions that they consider sins would become illeagle, homosexuality, premarital sex, atheism, women taking mens jobs, this list goes on forever.
The trouble with radical muslims, is just that RADICAL. All religions are intolerant of other religions, one needs only read your blogs to see this.
mac65 at 7:49PM on Dec 27th 2007
19. People like Dinesh seem to think that we always have a choice in whom we deal with around the world. If only it were the politically ideological cut-and-dry cookie that you so wished were so.
Musharaff has his work cut out for him in Pakistan and so do we, if he fails. Forget about Bush picking a fight in Iran.....we may finally get around to where Bin Laden truly is hiding; in Pakistan.
Suzanne at 8:34PM on Dec 27th 2007
20. This would be a far less perverted world if Deenessh D. Sooza worked in a Starbucks in Lahore...
@#$%&! at 9:19PM on Dec 27th 2007
21. I liked it better when a senseless killing of the politician calling for sanity was enough to bring everyone together for one moment and go, "Yeah, we're all just humans and we all need to just calm down and realize that the person next to me just wants to live and be happy and 9 times out of 10 will let me do the same if I give him the curtesy." I know the above sounds naive but it's true. Hating on people (ANYONE) at this time, when we've now lost the only person who wasn't running on angry in Pakistan (A country that ACTUALLY MIGHT BECOME A TERRORIST STATE WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS), is the very definition of missing the forest for the trees.
mbriancohen at 9:29PM on Dec 27th 2007
22. Yikes! The crazies are out in droves tonight. Is it a full moon?
Hear, hear!
don the baptist at 9:33PM on Dec 27th 2007
23. Blacks and minorites face more harassment by police, which leads to higher arrest rates.
donald at 10:11PM on Dec 27th 2007
24. For once, Dinesh is on to something, but he can't call a spade a spade and has to couch is critieque of a religion with the term "radical".
It's religion, not just radical religion that's the problem.
Ryan Anderson at 10:18PM on Dec 27th 2007
25. Mustafa:
How about posting your racist bullshit on a blog where it is pertinent to do so?
Who is in prison has NOTHING to do with Benazir Bhutto.
Fellow posters: PLEASE don't encourage him.
Linda at 10:21PM on Dec 27th 2007
26. Not to mention, blacks in America are subjected to living in poorer neighborhoods which make (and are a result of) poor schools which then breed under-educated children, which goes around to feed the cycle. And when you're poor long enough, shit happens. How about instead of pointing racial fingers at them, look at the white people in charge that are putting them there. But I guess we do need slave labor for the prison industrial complex, don't we? Hundreds of thousands of minor drug (mostly marijuana) arrests which were mostly African Americans (even though, statistically, white people smoke more weed than blacks) who are in prison factories.
I'm white, by the way... just so this doesn't become a race thing more than it is.
But now... on with talking about Dinesh and his tripe!
Andrew at 10:25PM on Dec 27th 2007
27. Dinesh D'Souza is an imbecile or worse, a paid political whore with no respect for fairness, accuracy, or discourse. Like my former professor John Yu, Dinesh is the son of immigrants who really doesn't get the heart of American political life (particularly its disdain for extremes and contempt for paid yes people). But insecure and not particularly bright, he exaggerates and overdoes everything, trying so hard to be a "good American" that he is little more than an ugly American. The only aliens or immigrants we should chase out of the country are weasely little fascists like Yu and Dinesh. They are aliens in the truest sense, outsiders who don't get us, and who have done enormous harm to this nation.
Glenn Stephens at 10:58PM on Dec 27th 2007
28. So many will mope and whine about D'Souza's atheist comments, then jump on the same old train to bash his political comments. I can understand if you believe he's not qualified to evaluate others' religious standpoints (it IS tough to do, when neither party can be objectively correct), but for a guy who spent time in the White House as Reagan's domestic policy analyst (mind you, we voted Reagan our "Best American" only two years ago through this same medium - AOL), he sure gets a lot of crap from a bunch of whacko amateurs.
Brad at 11:00PM on Dec 27th 2007
29. Glenn,
Wouldn't you agree that our own country was enlarged by white fascists who, as immigrants/aliens who didn't understand the natives themselves, neglected to respect every cultural, political, and religious idea that ever existed prior to their arrival? I mean, I'm sure Custer really just wanted to be a good American at heart. Let us not forgot we're not all perfect either, and the only reason we're here is because of idiots before us.
cameronbradley1 at 11:08PM on Dec 27th 2007
30. but for a guy who spent time in the White House as Reagan's domestic policy analyst (mind you, we voted Reagan our "Best American" only two years ago through this same medium - AOL), he sure gets a lot of crap from a bunch of whacko amateurs
xxxxx
Reagan was a wacko amateur - movie actor or chimp handler or something. What's more he worked for us and stunk up the job.
Denise the groinless, archenemy of pelvic atheism has defined his social enemies, the army of pelvic atheists and gays that are out to get him, and second aligned himself with bush cheney foxnews fascism.
It's probably not cool for the foxfart sniffers to be saying 'white house' and 'time' in the same sentence too often considering what goes around often comes around.
Clif Kuplen at 11:15PM on Dec 27th 2007