Arab Democracy may be more dangerous

Submitted by Matania Ginosar (United States), Nov 12, 2003 at 14:14

Dear Dr. Pipes.
Thank you for the tremendous work you are continuously doing.

I am for democracy, but I suggest that our desire for a Democratic Arab states, could bring, at least initially, much more uncontrolled terrorism than less. The Arab masses are inclined to be volatile for many reasons and very easily influenced. Younger population, lack of opportunity, culture too, are a few of the reasons. For many decades the dictatorial leaderships of the Arab world restrained to a large extent the ability of terrorists to operate in their own countries. When they supported terrorism elsewhere they had some control on the extent and nature of the terrorism.
My concern is that Democratic governments in the Arab countries, for at least a decade, would not be able to control terrorists. Democratic government "softness" would allow additional terrorism both inside and outside their countries to flourish without any control. The desire for revenge, anger, and hate would allow uncontrolled terrorists to use any weapons they are able to get. These include weapons of mass destruction. They did not yet get access to them, partially because any Arab government would not allow terrorists to use them, I believe.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".