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

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (196003)	8/8/2006 3:39:53 AM
From: Elroy	Respond to of 281500

She's getting death threats in LA. What do you think will happen to any Arab politician talking that way? Look what happened to Rafik Hariri. The king of Jordan seems to be the most outspoken Arab leader at the moment. Having his wife have positions of some importance in the administration and galavant around without a veil is pretty leading edge for Arabia. My point is just that a maverick Muslim woman living in Los Angeles speak out on the need for reform, is not going to cause much of a stir in the ME Muslim heartland. She's probably going to be perceived as an outsider more than an internal voice of criticism. And I thought Hariri was likely killed for his efforts to get Syria out of Lebanon, not for calling for modernization within Islam? The culture of jihad gives not just the right, but the DUTY, to silence with violence those who do not agree. Because jihad is sacred! So the extremist minority cows and brainwashes the majority. All the more reason to marginalize the jihadists.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (196003)	8/8/2006 10:21:36 AM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

What will wash out such feelings? I admit I am ignorant on virtually everything going on in the ME. I have never been to the ME. I never heard of AQ before 9/11. Never paid attention to anything about OBL. I do not have any Arab friends or even acquaintences (that I know about). I have many Jewish friends. I have never met a Jewish person that I didn't like. Having said that, I feel terrible about what has happened to Lebanon and the Lebanese. My naive question(s). Why didn't Israel try to get the US to introduce democracy into the ME by shoring up the Lebanese government. Making Lebanon a strong example of democracy in the ME. Instead of investing in Iraq, the money should have been spent in Lebanon. The Lebanese government could easily (at least to me) been coopted to at least manage the Hezbollah situation. Once Lebanon is flourishing, couldn't we have picked the next target to introduce democracy - but not by some crazy military approach. Does this make any sense?