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Baroud says “Mubarak is beyond criticism” from US officials (Reuters photo). |
Ramzy Baroud’s criticism of US policy in support of democracy in the Middle East illustrates Clare Boothe Luce’s saying that “No good deed goes unpunished.” On the one hand, he condemns the United States for not doing enough to press democracy on allies such as Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. But at the same time he castigates the United States for trying to help Iraqis build a democratic Iraq.
Don’t Iraqis deserve a chance to build their own democracy? What does he think would happen in Iraq if the United States packed up and went home before Iraqis were capable of defending themselves from their former oppressors in the Baath Party or Zarqawi’s foreign extremists, who continue to massacre hundreds of Iraqis every week?
He baldly states that “Mubarak is beyond criticism” from American officials. He must have missed the steady drumbeat of criticism coming out of Washington due to Egypt’s arrest of political activist Ayman Nur, the leader of the Tomorrow Party; pressure for an opening up of the political system; and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s refusal to travel to Cairo until Ayman Nur had been released.
| Don’t Iraqis deserve a chance to build their own democracy? |
Baroud claims that Washington is pushing a fraudulent policy of “managed democracy” in the Middle East. The concept of a “managed democracy” seems like an oxymoron to me. Democracy is inherently difficult to “manage.” It leads to complex bargaining between contending centers of power that seek to manage their own future.
I agree with him that true democracy could bring to the fore anti-American forces in some countries. This is one reason President Bush has been criticized inside the United States by some who fear that a democratic Iraq would empower pro-Iranian Iraqi Shiite political parties.
But over time, democratic parties working to advance the genuine interests of their own people will see the United States and other democracies as important sources of political and economic support.
| Iran is a mullahcracy, not a true democracy. |
I do not share Mr. Baroud’s high opinion of Iran’s political system. It is a mullahcracy, not a true democracy. Many Iranians voted in the recent elections, but their choices were severely limited by the ruling clerical establishment, which vetoed the candidacies of hundreds of presidential aspirants. In Iran today, the “will of the people” is routinely subordinated to the “will of God,” which is narrowly interpreted by a small clique of un-elected clerics.
And Iran’s harsh version of “mis-managed democracy” is much more repressive than many other Middle Eastern regimes that make no pretense at democracy. The Iranian regime has jailed and executed thousands of political prisoners, assassinated opposition leaders in exile, murdered political dissidents at home, and closed several hundred newspapers that strayed from the official line. It continues to repress non-Shiite religious minorities, such as the Bahais and Sunni Muslims, while simultaneously discriminating against non-Persian minorities such as the Arabs, Kurds, and Baluchis.
If this is the kind of “democracy” that Mr. Baroud advocates, then I doubt that he will find many who agree with him.
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