Why I agree with your reply to USA Today
Reader comment on item: Don't deal with terrorists

Submitted by Bryan Taplits (United States), Jan 25, 2006 at 10:29

Dr. Pipes,

Your reply to USA Today is why I look forward to your E-mailed articles addressed to me-and is one more reason I wish I were wealthy enough so that I could donate to the Middle Eastern Forum.

As I see it, while historical perspective is nice to persuade that-as President Bush put it-"There's a positive effect when you run for office.... People who run for office generally say, 'Vote for me, I'm looking forward to fixing you potholes.", history can only give you probabilities; the case that is being looked at could be different. Could be, but in Hamas' case, isn't. It was a bloodthirsty murderous organization yesterday, it is the same today, and it will be the no different tomorrow.

Hamas has no clue as to how to govern; what it is good at is murdering Israel citizens. It, in effect, is like a butcher knife: It is great at evisceration, but hasn't been proved to be effective at civilized governance-because it never has tried to govern. If it did "make the trains run on time", as Mussolini did, it would still be a murderous and tyrranical organization in the mold of a Fascistic Government-like Hitler or Mussolini or Saadam; and perhaps, devolving into a Communist Goverment-like that of Stalin and Castro.

The reason why it would never change from it's murderous calling is that...Hamas is a murderous organization. That is why it was created; that is its reason for being;and those who now run the organization would not like to see it change because: 1) They hate Israel 2) They hate Jews 3) They only know violence 4) If they went democratic and non-violent, in effect, they'd be implying that their total past life was foolish and a lie. And no man (especially a murderous one) would care to cater such a notion.

In my opinion, one of the main reasons Hamas will never change-ie. it is a pipe dream for President Bush to believe it and it's chieftains will-is that Hamas serves as a organized and partially successful repository of hate that its minions (and overseas liberals) can support.

I think President Bush has it backwards: Hamas can not change because, no matter how successful it becomes at governance, its followers will never change: They need Israel and Jews to revile and to murder. For the followers of Hamas, prejudice and discrimination is not a bad thing-if it is focused on and against the right subjects.

The main reason why it has support in the Middle East is because it has been many times successful in its mission to attempt to destroy Israel and kill Jews. If it ever changes (even though its governance leads to Ultima Thule), its followers would throw it out or never vote for it in the first place. Hate, in the Fascistic Middle-Eastern mode, will always overrule Civilized Prosperity.

As evidence, we need only go back to 9/11. The terrorists, although leading lives of middle class bliss, decided that they would be more blissful if they killed 3000 people, even should they die for it. In this case "Hate" triumphed. But 9/11 was more than the act of deluded terrorists, it was the activation of the Arabic-Middle-Eastern mindset. I still recall seeing on TV, Palestinians (and many others in the Middle-East) cheering that America suffered so.

Thus, Hamas does not lead, but rather follows the murderous and bloodridden trail of its Islamic-Fascistic adherents.

---

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 for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.