MideastWeb Middle East Web Log

log  archives  middle east  maps  history   documents   countries   books   encyclopedia   culture   dialogue   links    timeline   donations 

Search:

Bhutto Assassinated - Hope for democracy mortally wounded

12/27/2007

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated during a campaign rally, Thursday, December 27. A Jihadist terrorist shot her in the neck and chest as she was getting into her car to leave a rally in Rawalpindi, and then blew himself up, killing 20 others. Her supporters shouted "Dog Musharraf," blaming the Pakistani leader for the assassination, rather than the Islamists.

Two days ago, Bhutto had pledged again, perhaps too insistently, that she would fight extremists. In Pakistan as in Afghanistan, as in Iraq as in Lebanon as in the Palestinian territories, it seems that in Islamist "democracy," comrade Kalashnikov's invention (the AK-47 assault rifle), the suicide bombers and the their allies are winning the "war for hearts and minds" by murdering people.

Thus far, nobody has outlined a realistic policy for dealing with the spreading problem of Islamist extremism, though it should be becoming clear that it threatens to engulf all of us. On the one hand, repressive regimes like that of Pervez Musharraf disallow all manner of legitimate protest or democratic dissent. The only opposition that can survive takes refuge in the mosques and is defended as "religion." Indeed, in countries such as Syria and Egypt, Islamist extremism is virtually the only tolerated form of dissent, provided that the terror tactics and hate are not turned against the government itself. It is very likely that Pervez Musharraf will now reinstate the state of emergency that was lifted under Western pressure. Pakistan will see many more sad days - repression and violence beget more repression and more violence. No doubt, the suspicion will grow that Musharraf engineered this assassination as an excuse to perpetuate his own rule. The possibility cannot be ruled out. But Musharraf did not invent the Islamists and he could not have conjured them from nowhere. The blame must be put where it belongs.

On the other hand, the extremists are able to grow and prosper because they are supported by a vast network of passive support. In both Muslim and Western societies they are given legitimacy because they are supposedly fighting "oppression" and "occupation." The extremist madrassahs that breed this violent hatred are financed by petrodollars that come from Gulf countries, ostensibly allies in the "War against terror." Both Western and Muslim news media call the Islamist extremist murderers "fighters" and "gunman" and "militants" -- anything but terrorist criminals. When they are killed, Muslim media describe them as "martyred." Their victims are rarely described in those terms.

The most respected "experts" in the West continue to insist, against the evidence, that the Jihadists will inevitably become "democratic" if they are coopted into the system. In the Palestinian territories, the experiment was a disaster. Hamas finalized their ballot box victory by murdering the opposition. In Lebanon, the Hezbollah, having gotten a percentage of the vote, are now paralyzing the country and murdering opposition politicians one at a time until they have a majority and can elect a president of their own choosing. Democracy and guns in the hands of militias don't mix. Democracy doesn't stand a chance against c-4 explosives. In Turkey, it is true that a moderate party that espouses Islamic values has taken over the government successfully. But the AKP did not arise out of murderous extremist groups and was never part of the militant Islamist movement. The Turkish-Islamic reformist tradition has deep and genuine roots in the Ottoman reform movement and evolved separately from the Salafist extremists. And we should not forget that the story of Turkey is not complete yet.

It is considered very bad form to raise the least doubts about the received wisdom of engaging extremists, of believing in their eventual evolution to democracy and of "understanding the causes" of terror. Anyone who questions this wisdom, of whatever creed or political persuasion, is quickly branded a neocon Zionist Islamophobe. Fuad Ajami and Sheikh Palazzi are now honorary "neocon Zionist" Jews I suppose, and so are the editors of as Sharq al Awsat. The real causes of the terror are easy availability of explosives, assault rifles and inflammatory and evil education and the relative tolerance of extremist doctrines that are given immunity by laws of free speech or respect for religion. Study after study shows that the terrorists are not the impoverished wretched of the earth, but rather include a disproportionate number of the educated and affluent. Poor folks are too busy making a living.

All those "decent" folk of whatever creed, wherever they are, who apologize for Islamist terror, who insist on "engaging" and "coopting" and justifying these murderers, should understand that Benazir Bhutto was a martyr for them, for us, for our freedom. If we do not wake up and fight this menace together, we shall all meet her fate or be enslaved by them. The Islamist extremists declare that they are not interested in compromise or mercy or democracy in the terms that ordinary people understand it. Democracy for them means that you will be convinced, by the barrel of a gun, that their way is right, and then you will vote for it by consensus. You can have a choice of which Islamist candidate to support. There is nothing to discuss with these people except disarming and re-educating them.

It is time to understand. The apologists for terror and those who look the other way, and those who fund "educational charities" that teach hatred and perpetuate ignorance and xenophobia are not friends of Islam or friends of the poor people of Asia. They are not fighting to end any occupation or oppose any tyranny, but rather to impose a dark tyranny on all of us.

Ami Isseroff

If you like this post - click to Reddit!
add to del.icio.usAdd to digg - digg it

Original text copyright by the author and MidEastWeb for Coexistence, RA. Posted at MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log at http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000662.htm where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Distributed by MEW Newslist. Subscribe by e-mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by email with this notice and link to and cite this article. Other uses by permission.

by Moderator @ 05:04 PM CST [Link]

NEWS

Middle East e-Zine

Midde East News

Opinion Digest

Late Updates

REFERENCE

Middle East Glossary

Middle East Maps

Middle East Books

Middle East Documents

Israel-Palestine History

Israel-Palestine Timeline

Middle East Countries

Middle East Economy

Middle East Population

Middle East Health

Zionism History

Palestinian Parties

Palestinian Refugees

Peace Plans

Water

Middle East

  

Blog Links

OneVoice - Israeli-Palestinian Peace Blog

Bravo411 -Info Freedom

Israel News

Oceanguy

Michael Brenner

Dutchblog Israel

Dutch - IMO (Israel & Midden-Oosten) Blog (NL)

GulfReporter

Israpundit

Alas, a Blog

Little Green Footballs

Blue Truth

Fresno Zionism

Reut Blog

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Blog

Simply Jews: Judaism and Israel

Jeff Weintraub - Commentaries and Controversies

Vital Perspective

ZioNation

Meretz USA Weblog

normblog

MIDEAST observer

On the Contrary

Blogger News Network- BNN

Google Sex Maps

Demediacratic Nation

Realistic Dove

Tulip - Israeli-Palestinian Trade Union Assoc.

On the Face

Israel Palestjnen (Dutch)

Middle East Analysis

Israel: Like This, As If

Middle East Analysis

Mid_East Journal

Z-Word Blog

Dvar Dea

SEO for Everyone


Web Sites & Pages

Israeli-Palestinian Procon

End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: One Voice

Democratiya

ATFP- American Task Force on Palestine

Americans For Peace Now

Shalom Achshav

Chicago Peace Now

Nemashim

Peacechild Israel

Bridges of Peace

PEACE Watch

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Z-Word

Zionism

Zionism and Israel

Zionism and Israel on the Web

Israel - Palestina:Midden-Oosten Conflict + Zionisme

Israël in de Media

Euston Manifesto

New Year Peace

Jew

Christian Zionism

Jew Hate

Space Shuttle Blog

Israel News Magazine

SEO


My Ecosystem Details
International Affairs Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

Link 2 us
We link 2 U.
MidEastWeb- Middle East News & Views
MidEastWeb is not responsible for the content of linked Web sites



Please do not leave notes for MidEastWeb editors here. Hyperlinks are not displayed. We may delete or abridge comments that are longer than 250 words, or consist entirely of material copied from other sources, and we shall delete comments with obscene or racist content or commercial advertisements. Comments should adhere to Mideastweb Guidelines . IPs of offenders will be banned.

Powered By Greymatter

[Previous entry: "On priorities"] Main Index [Next entry: "Crystal Ball 2008"]

ALL PREVIOUS MidEastWeb Middle East LOG ENTRIES

Thank you for visiting MidEastWeb - Middle East.
If you like what you see here, tell others about the MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log - www.mideastweb.org/log/.

Contact Us

Copyright

Editors' contributions are copyright by the authors and MidEastWeb for Coexistence RA.
Please link to main article pages and tell your friends about MidEastWeb. Do not copy MidEastWeb materials to your Web Site. That is a violation of our copyright. Click for copyright policy.
MidEastWeb and the editors are not responsible for content of visitors' comments.
Please report any comments that are offensive or racist.

Editors can log in by clicking here

Technorati Profile

RSS FeedRSS feed Add to Amphetadesk Add to Amphetadesk

USA Credit Card - Donate to MidEastWeb  On-Line - Help us live and grow