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 4 of 14)
46. As a baby boomer, I have seen the way women are treated in this country CHANGE:
Partly for the better- but MUCH MORE for the worse:
In the 1960's women agitated to get more fair job treatment. That has partly improved womens' position in the job market.(RESPECT!)
HOWEVER inthe 1960's the "sexual revolution" mostly damaged women, girls.
(You who are SURPRISED at the Spears girl's teen pregnancy---where have you been hiding? LOTS of girls get pregnant. Last I heard about half abort, half give birth
(but all are damaged and thrust into"instant adulthood". Not to mention the higher suicide rate for pregnant teens, the one in four teens getting an STD, the cervical cancer from an STD epidemic...The price of "get what you can" and "so called free love"))
And SO our DISRESPECT for women is larger and vaster than our RESPECT.
----------What parent from another country wants this kind of garbage for their daughters? _____________
(Not that I approve of violent means of protest - but I certainly understand their anger at American "anti values" when it comes to women, girls.)
DNA - a great design at 8:08AM on Dec 28th 2007
47. when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace... since this doesn't seem like is going to happened any time soon this is what i think; there is something more that just immorality in America that causes Muslims to hate Americans. if this guy wants to base his article on this then how come they are not doing war against European countries that have legalized prostitution?
they treat their women with disrespect and claim that they are honoring them! the problem with islam is that they are sexually frustrated and are afraid of women. i feel sorry for their ignorance and i hope they burn in hell for killing so many innocents. i wonder why people like that are still alive, im sure hate will dry up their souls if they have any.
lady at 8:50AM on Dec 28th 2007
48. Okay, DNA...
As you conducted your research into the suicide rate among teens over the past fifty years, did you take into account all the young women who were killed by their intimate partner? (That rate, by the way, has dropped significantly over the past fifty years.)
What's more, as you pored over books while looking into this topic, did you solve every cold case death over the past fifty years? Did you uncover every "accidental" death that families manipulated so they wouldn't be burdened with the shame of a "sinful" suicide in their homes? (Remember, investigative techniques in the Fifties and Sixties made it quite easy for a father, mother or any family to make a shameful suicide appear to detectives as an "accident.")
DNA, I'm pretty sure you did little beyond reading some statistics and then regurgitating those statistics to convince yourself.
If you really think women were better off during the Sixties then you had better have your hindsight checked because it's a little less than 20/20.
In the Sixties women could "aspire" to be secretaries. Women could "aspire" to be nurses. Women could "aspire" to be homemakers. Women could "aspire" to be check-out girls. Women could "aspire" to be waitresses.
Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with women filling the above positions. The problem is that women/girls were discouraged from filling more demanding roles. Women barely aspired to be doctors. Women barely aspired to be the CEO of an enterprise. Women barely aspired to run the restaurant rather than wait tables. And women were complete excluded from NASA's astronaut program.
What's more, on a social level, women were widely regarded as mere sex and baby machines that also had the convenient ability to cook and clean while hubby was out playing golf, or working overtime. If wifey objected to her role in the home, daddy slapped some sense into her.
Yes, that young women get pregnant much too soon is quite a travesty. But, such things also happened in the Sixties (and women often died even in America because of those pregnancies.) On top of that, in those Muslim countries that you seem so ready to "understand" a pregnant teenager is first arrested, then ridiculed, then raped, then convicted, and often times killed in the public square...er, because she's now "unclean." (Funny how she's "clean" enough to rape but not "clean" enough to live.) In fact, she doesn't even have to be pregnant to suffer such indignation and horror at the hands of "moral" men. All she has to do is ride in a car with a man who is not her kin.
Now, do you STILL think Muslims have some sort of insight on American values and/or righteousness?
Please...feel free to pack your bags...take your daughters with you. Cover them from head to toe. Force them into subservient roles as baby makers, sex toys, and housekeepers. Enjoy!
Paul at 9:18AM on Dec 28th 2007
49. You guys crack me up. Especially DD.
We live in the most puritanical, sexually repressed country amongst the industrialized nations of the world. We've never been able to throw off our "Puritan" beliefs.
As a child of the 60's, I can tell you that life for women today is 1000% better than it was in the stodgy, suffocating 50's.
The world of the radical muslims is stuck in the 8th century. Bhutto was the shining exception to that rule. Of course they assassinated her.
I'm sure you men would like to see the women of the USA return to the subjucated, repressed doormats of yesterday.
Aint gonna happen.
Linda at 9:21AM on Dec 28th 2007
50. Iraq is a pro american muslim democracy? Where have you been the last five years? They hardly seem pro american. We are shoving our so called democracy down their throat. If we really wanted to promote democracies in muslim countries we woud not have been giving billions to Musharaf and allowed him to have nuclear weapons in his unstable undemocratic government. Oil always seems to be a determining factor whether they should have our democracy or not.
Rick at 9:23AM on Dec 28th 2007
51. "I'm sure you men would like to see the women of the USA return to the subjucated, repressed doormats of yesterday."
I am pretty sure that DNA's real issue has to do with whether men put the toilet seat down, she doesn't really grasp the larger picture.
a born atheist at 9:34AM on Dec 28th 2007
52. DD says: "And so we have been subjected to the same tired nonsense about how the radical Muslims are against freedom"
Dinesh you hypocrite. WHO has been saying that they hate freedom? I'll tell you. GEORGE W BUSH! Only last week you wrote a blog fawning over him, and NOW (when it suits your purposes) you switch positions. At least today you are telling the truth about it: it IS tired nonsense.
AndrewV at 9:36AM on Dec 28th 2007
53. Hello, people does anyone care that a person has been assassinated. That a women who only wanted the best for her country (a free society with the freedoms that we enjoy here) she was murdered and the only subcript you can come up with is to belittle a columnist who wrote it. Where is your outrage on a person being murdered? Where is your caring for a women who only loved her country as you all claim to do, where is the justice. Again, I tell you that if at any point in time you think there will be peace in that part of the world people you better think again. You seem to think that we will all be a lot safer if we bring our troops home. Hint, hint no troops there when Sadam decided to invade Kuwait. The world is a very scary place and again I have to ask is there two kinds of Muslim's religion? Is there one that is indeed peace loving and non-combatal? Then it must be the other religion that is out to kill as many people as possible as well as sneaking these cells into our country and Canada! Please someone give me a break, anyone who actually believes that the Muslim way of life is just a step behind the Christian values that we hold dear today. Rita
Rita at 10:03AM on Dec 28th 2007
54. Rita, the muslim religion and christianity are essentially identical.
a born atheist at 10:09AM on Dec 28th 2007
55. Dear Born A,
Since you have no knowledge of either religion I do not think your opinion is necessary. You would be better off trying to find out who you are first then take the next step. Remember atheists have no higher power or GOD or whatever so, in this situation you really don't know enough to comment but, thanks for trying to anyway. Rita
Rita at 10:17AM on Dec 28th 2007
56. I am pretty sure that your opinion is biased as well.
a born atheist at 10:23AM on Dec 28th 2007
57. Atheist,
Opinions as they say "vary" and I am just stating the obvious. You claim to have no higher power and I am stating that through my Christian education that Christian and Muslim's have nothing in common. Rita
Rita at 10:34AM on Dec 28th 2007
58. christian, muslim, what's the dif?
All are delusional and will never change. Our only hope is secular education.
With only 30% literacy in much of the muslim world, and America suffering the disease of christian fundamentalism, it will be awhile before mankind can rid itself of this scourge.
Richard at 10:36AM on Dec 28th 2007
59. Dinesh,
I agree that Musharraf could not be behind Bhutto's murder (at least I can't see that being the case). But I do want to comment on something you stated to:
"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."
Could it be that the cultural left understands that democracy cannot exist as long as Islamists control the governments of the Middle East?
I find it odd that the rightists among us will be the first to declare that Islam is not a religion of peace but expects American Style democracy (or any type of democracy) to prevail there. Perhaps it isn't about the cultural left not wanting democracy to win, but simply admitting the awful truth about the lack of prospect for it (something the cultural right isn't doing).
LorMarie at 10:44AM on Dec 28th 2007
60. What seems obvious to you Rita may be just plain wrong to someone else. You and the muslims share the same god. Christianity thinks one prophet is the true one, muslims think a different one is the true one. Both religions have right-wing violent nutjubs. Do you not consider bombing abortion clinics to be acts of terrorism? Cowardly terrorism at that, they don't even have the courage of their convictions to make it suicide bombing.
a born atheist at 10:42AM on Dec 28th 2007