Nasser is your example of a good secular leader?

Submitted by Schills (United States), Jun 22, 2012 at 16:25

I will try again as well. From an American foreign policy standpoint, we lose nothing if an Islamist is elected. You cite Egypt being secular under Nasser. Nasser is an excellent example of why electing an Islamist does not matter. Nasser was not only rhetorically hostile towards the US and Israel, he started wars with Israel and destabilized the Middle East generally to the detriment of American foreign policy.

If an Islamist is elected in Egypt and shariah law becomes the law of the land, but he does not then go on to start another war with Israel then he will be an improvement over Nasser for American foreign policy goals. If he on the other hand does go on to start a war with Israel, then he will be no worse for American foreign policy then Nasser was. The same analysis applies to Gaza under Hamas verses Gaza under Fatah. Elections of Islamists therefore do not threaten us any more than the election of hostile secularists. The real issue is promoting the peaceful transfer of power through the electoral process. With ever election there is the opportunity to replace an adversarial government with a friendly one.

The examples you cite are of Islamist groups spilling blood, not of elected Islamist governments. Islamist governments that have come to power in Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Tunisia have not turned around and started chopping hands off. When they were voted out of power, they continue to participate in the electoral process. In short, a pro-market Islamist government in Anakara is preferable to a statist secular one from the perspective of American foreign policy.

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".