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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SARMAN who wrote (194507)	8/2/2006 12:09:28 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

If a democracy in the ME is not pro-US it is a democracy. No... that's simply NOT THE CASE. There can be a democratic system in a nation who's people absolutely hate the US. HOWEVER, there MUST BE the ability of opposition parties who might be in favor of the US to have the right to make their case without being imprisoned and/or terrorized because they hold that opinion. Furthermore, they're must be a respect amongst ALL political parties that, no matter what their political disagreements may be, they acknowledge and respect the democratic system they seek to utilize to rise to governmental power. They must not undermine it, nor attempt to prevent future elections that might result in their being ousted from power. Hamas has only to alter their charter to reflect respect for the power of the people to either elect, or oust, them from power at every election. They could still hold to the rest of their platform related to destroying Israel and still maintain the facade of being an adherent to the democratic system. But over and over again, we'd heard Hamas and other Islamo-Fascist groups assert that democracy is illegitimate under Islam. And they certainly don't respect a free press. And that's simply erroneous. Islam is very democratic at many levels in regard to its religious context. Each muslim is directly responsible for his behavior, and no intervention on behalf of a mullah, imam, or ayatollah can grant them "absolution". They can choose which religious leader they want to follow. They don't possess a heirarchy of priests, bishops, and popes who dictate what they must believe. In sum.. if the values of a political organization are so meritorious, then they should not need to intimidate or undermine the democratic process and the institutions that preserve that system. They should be able to take open opposition and criticism without responding with force and intimidation. Thus, it has nothing to do with being "pro-US" or "pro-Israel". If the people choose to elect a government that is dead set on waging war with a neighboring country, then the people have spoken and they have stated they are willing to accept the benefits, or consequences, of their vote. Hawk