RE: Only themselves to blame- Jim 8/6/02

Submitted by Arthur Hutchinson (United States), Aug 7, 2002 at 23:09

I disagree. If Arafat goes away, there will be a plenty of "Arafats" to take his place. Same thing applies to Bin Laden. If he is dead, there are hundreds of "Bin Ladens" to substitute for him. Wonder why? Take a look at the rest of the Islamic world. Leadership is nothing but dictatorship, whether in Iraq, Libya, Syria, or others!

I think you missed the point. The problem is not Arab leaders per se, rather it is the culture that produces them. Islamic history had a little to do with democracy. Furthermore, Islamic culture percieves democracy as an ideology imported from the west and not based on the Qur'an (Muslem Bible), therefore there is a little acceptance and respect for this idea. Totalitarianism based on individual "hero" has a lot more acceptance in the Islamic culture. This hero can be Bin Laden, Qaddhafi, Saddam, Assad, or even Khomeini, who are supposedly fighting the enemy and defending their nations!

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