Freedom, democracy and Islam

Patrick J. Buchanan:

In the Arab and Islamic world, however, hundreds of millions reject our values. They favor beheading adulterers and pornographers. Believing there is but one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet, many approve of executing missionaries from infidel faiths – like Christianity – who are discovered in their midst subverting Islam.

As for cutting off Salman Rushdie's head for his blasphemous book, "Satanic Verses," the volunteers would line up from Mecca to Medina.

What will one-man, one-vote produce – over there? In 1992, Algeria voted for an Islamist regime, until the army intervened, igniting a civil war in which 100,000 have died. Our NATO ally Turkey has voted in a moderate Islamic regime that denied us use of our Turkish bases for invading Iraq. The Gazans just voted 70 percent for Hamas. The Palestinians would have voted for Marwan Barghouti, now serving five life terms for murder in Israel, had he not taken his name off the ballot. Look for Hezbollah to double or triple its strength in the Lebanese elections.

In the Middle East, the struggle is between moderates who look West and Islamists and radicals who reject the West. In every survey, Osama beats Bush hands down on trust and admiration. In Pakistan, the most popular name for newborn boys is Osama. Not a lot of "George W's." In every nation where royalty rules – Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Gulf states, Kuwait – the regime is more pro-American than the people. Why destabilize these regimes?

Why should the United States invest blood and treasure effecting regime change that could bring to power an anti-American populist – as happened when the kings and emperors fell in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Iran and Ethiopia? Making the Middle East democratic may mean an end to monarchy. But it may also mean our expulsion from the region and a final Arab confrontation with Israel. Is that a goal for which we should shed American blood?

If Bush is holding hands with the Saudi crown prince, perhaps it is because he now understands who the alternative is.

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