Gerecht proposes deja vu
Reader comment on item: Radical Islam as Its Own Antidote[, Argues Reuel Gerecht]

Submitted by GreyGhost (United States), Jun 26, 2005 at 17:18

Mr. Gerecht's plan to allow Sunni Islamists to hold power in Iraq so that the Iraqi population would become alienated by their violence and mismanagement might have some merit if it had any historical precedence to permit confidence in its success. Sadly, the opposite is true. Until George W. Bush went to war in Iraq, every Arab government was a totalitarian tyranny and no Arab populations have ever thrown their tyrants into history's dustbins -- unless, of course -- it was to replace one bad totalitarian with a worse one.

There are no Arab George Washingtons, no Ben Franklins, no Patrick Henrys, and no James Madisons to lead the way to freedom and liberty for the simple reason that their culture does not place high value on individual freedom. And without the culture to produce great and moral statesmen, the Arabs are bereft of any capacity for legitimate self-governance of the kind that respects individual human rights and liberties -- those for themselves as well as those for others they disagree with.

Besides, the Iraqis already went down the road Gerecht proposes with Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist Sunni Republican Guards. Instead of forming Paul Revere-like Minutemen Militias -- the Arabs alternated between cowering in fear and helping Saddam make predatory attacks on their neighboring states for decades until the brave Americans finally got around to liberating them.

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