Dilip Hiro in today’s NYT.
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Unveiling the truth: Muslim life on campus – The Hofstra Chronicle – @Hofstra. “For being one of the most religious nations in the world we don’t have a good vocabulary to talk about religion. There should be education on religion not about Islam per se, but about religion in general starting on a secondary level,” said Rashid, “It’s not just about getting people interested in learning about other cultures and religions, it’s about people getting curious again. People need to get excited about learning again.”
It’s credible
when CNN reports it. The only thing more damning would be if Fox, for whatever reason, decided to report it. The ACLU has discovered that soldiers in Iraq abused detainees. In one instance, forcing a father to choose which of his two sons would be executed. In another, forcing a detainee to dig his own grave before being executed. Two things, nobody was actually killed, and these were not prisoners, they were detainees. Digging your own grave? Wasn’t that a no-no in Bosnia? The other thing we discover is that the Red Cross issued concerns to the Pentagon in 2002…
3 thoughts on “Islam and Democracy”
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A bit ironic that you link to an op/ed by Dilip Hiro that lauds Qatar’s democracy when you also note the banning of your site by that same country. Anyhoo, I don’t know what democracy will look like in Iraq, but I’m baffled Hiro’s optimistic opinion that 1) the country has a chance of remaining unified, and 2) it won’t follow a theocratic model. I want to make it clear that I don’t think Iraq needs to follow a secular, liberal democratic model (which happens to be my preference which is why I live here and not in Saudi Arabia).
I wanted to work on Hiro’s piece a bit, but I knew I wouldn’t get to it immediately, and I thought it was more useful just to get it out there. I liked it because I thought I thought it talked about the various ways Islam fits into government models.
I’m not sure Iraq will stay together without some help. However, I think the administration has enough sense to realize that if Iraq falls apart soon, it will count as a failure. I’m fairly confident that “vilayat-e faqih” will not take hold in Iraq b/c Sistani has come out against it, and was opposed to Khomeini on this point. That, of course, does not preclude a theocracy.
Is free speech a sign of democracy? (Qatar) Remember that recently several ABC affiliates refused to air “Saving Private Ryan” for fear of a government backlash, after two years of showing it. Does that mean we are not a democracy? (Rhetorical interest. Your point is taken.)
Yes, that was pretty lame self-censorship on the part of stations that balked at showing the movie. I agree that free speech is not a sign of democracy, but is a sign of a liberal democracy (as distinguished in Fareed Zakaria’s excellent read, the Future of Freedom). Hiro thinks that Qatar is both.