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But what is the alternative, from Democracy Project

Reader comment on item: Karzai's Brother and Washington's Kept Politicians

Submitted by Brent Tantillo (United States), Oct 29, 2009 at 21:49

Daniel Pipes reports that Hamid Karzai's brother is on the CIA's payroll, and this is evidence that Karzai is a kept politician, among others in the Middle East, i.e. Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki, Lebanon's Saad Hariri, and the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas. Pipes notes that Washington didn't have any kept politicians in the Middle East prior to 2000, but now we have four. Well there was 9/11.

Pipes isn't too optimistic about the fate of these four, he thinks they'll go the way of the Shah of Iran, but frankly what is the alternative? Many of these leaders were democratically elected, for what it's worth. And to not prop up some form of moderate leadership in the region only leads to radical forms of Islamic rule.

Submitting....

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".

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Reader comments (28) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
We can not allow another country to fall to the taliban et al, the world will pay a heavy price if we do ! [60 words]Phil GreendJun 16, 2010 13:15174459
declare mongolistan aka pakistan a terrorist state [124 words]Muslimk***Jun 15, 2010 15:33174437
One question for Dr Pipes [16 words]car313Jun 14, 2010 07:14174390
Regroup to fight another day [350 words]No DhimmiJun 13, 2010 02:03174327
USA and Friends will get down [104 words]brNov 24, 2009 23:58164995
lost [17 words]General DostumNov 16, 2009 19:43164653
A question to Dr. Pipes [116 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Debanjan BanerjeeOct 30, 2009 12:13163827
Correction: [17 words]abdullahDec 6, 2009 10:19163827
No nexus with terrorists [101 words]Muslimk***Jun 16, 2010 13:15163827
West has been dealing with the so-called "terrorists" for a long time [139 words]Debanjan BanerjeeJun 16, 2010 23:58163827
Is that fair? [56 words]Manny MatamorosOct 30, 2009 10:24163823
Ten years from now few rulers now in the world will still still be in power! [5 words]BernardOct 30, 2009 23:11163823
But what is the alternative, from Democracy Project [125 words]Brent TantilloOct 29, 2009 21:49163792
Re: Alternatives [149 words]JFTDMasterNov 2, 2009 20:40163792
suicide bombing [95 words]Black Ribbon DayOct 29, 2009 21:30163790
Democratically-minded Strongmen? [341 words]John in Michigan, USAOct 29, 2009 20:04163787
Get out of Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as possible! It's literally and financially killing us! [54 words]Ben ZalmanOct 29, 2009 12:49163760
Agree with Ben Zalman, we should get out fairly quickly, pick a side among the warlords to support [188 words]Charles MartelOct 30, 2009 14:42163760
Get us out. [125 words]Thomas E. DoyleNov 8, 2009 20:47163760
Kept vs. Unkept [14 words]John Q. OpinionOct 29, 2009 11:29163752
...or an alternative way of looking at it... [273 words]Bif BifmanOct 29, 2009 11:18163751
What is your solution? [54 words]John SchwartzOct 29, 2009 04:55163738
WASHINGTON'S KEPT POLITICIANS [73 words]JACQUES HADIDAOct 28, 2009 21:05163721
Asia As One Vast Spongy, Overpopulated Mass. [258 words]Charles GriffithOct 28, 2009 16:57163703
"Washington kept no politicians in 2000" -Arafat [29 words]RobOct 28, 2009 16:56163701
Re: Arafat a kept politician? [59 words]JFTDMasterNov 2, 2009 20:19163701
True or not [75 words]Charles BottOct 28, 2009 15:38163693
Corruption. [24 words]Michael RyanOct 28, 2009 15:26163689

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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".

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