|
Daily hopes Iraqis will establish an Islamic Republic
IRNA -- Current incidents in the war-battered Iraqi nation suggests that the Iraqi people have taken the first step to establish a fledgling Islamic Republic in their country, noted `Kayhan International' in its Viewpoint column on Sunday. The unprecedented turnout of Iraqis at Friday's congregational prayers in Baghdad, Basra, Kut, Karbala, Najaf and a number of other cities in the war-torn nation reveals a "most striking contrast" between what the American troops have tried to make out by calling themselves "liberators" and what the absolute majority of Iraqi citizens wish for through their shouts of protest, highlighted the English-language daily.
| Either that, or that Iraqis are no different from any other Arabs, or, indeed, any other large group of people. Half of everyone you'll ever meet will be below average. Many of them will attend mosques. |
Interestingly, just a few days before Iraq was bombed by the coalition forces, the Guardian daily of London quoted a US State Department expert on March 15 as saying that the "US government can't insist on democratizing political systems in the Middle East since, present circumstances indicate that if people in the region were offered an alternative form of government, fundamentalists and those believing in an Islamic government would definitely be their final choice, the daily noted.
Al-Guardian was indulging in false literalism to buttress its point against U.S. involvement â "it's impossible, so don't even bother." "Democracy" consists of something more than merely voting, a point Pakistan has never caught onto. I think what we have in mind is something that will guarantee individual liberties â freedom to mouth off; freedom to criticize each other; freedom to be a Shiite, a Sunni, a Christian, or nothing at all; freedom from capricious abuse by the powers that be, all those things that we on these pages would rightly clarify as libertarianism.
Only if those rights â pretty much all of the U.S. Bill of Rights â is embedded in their governmental structure, will they be a "democracy." The idea of leaders appointed by God and accountable only to him is something that went out shortly after Louis XIV ran out of money to pay his tailor. |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-20 |
