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Democracy and Iraq

Reader comment on item: Iraq: "Could a New Strongman Help?"

Submitted by Vinodgupt (United States), Nov 16, 2006 at 14:50

Much water has flown in the Tigris and Euphrates and despite all the best intentions of Bush administration democracy has eluded Iraq. Actually, this is an understatement. Though President Bush has earned much ire of the American public but it is not really his fault except that he failed to understand the basic ideology that prevails in Iraq. President Bush had all the good intentions and best wishes for the Iraqi people.

Why has democracy not taken root in Iraq?

For the time being let us forget about Iraq and concentrate on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - I say this for a purpose.

The three have common heritage, common history, common culture (to an extent except for the religion) and the same general gene pool. Till 1947 they were all part of the same country. After partition what happened?

Immediately, almost all non-Muslims were killed, converted or kicked out of Pakistan. Thus Hindu/Sikh population that was around 25% then has been reduced to about 1% today. Reportedly around a million were killed in the holocaust that followed and around 10 million renedered homeless, driven out of the land they had ever known.

Both India and Pakistan started as democracy but it didn't take long before military ruled Pakistan and has continued to do so except for brief periods.

In 1971 when Bangladesh seceded from earstwhile Pakistan, it started out as democracy but it too has seen frequent miltary rule. And since then there has been huge exodus of its minority Hindu population.

The same process is going on Kashmir -- the only Muslim majority state in India.

To the contrary despite its diversity in every known field -- languages, ethnicities, religions, philosophies -- India has remained a strong and vibrant democracy. Its Muslim population that was about 8 -- 10% after partition stands at around 15% -- a jump from about 30 million to 150 million. India is home to just about every known religion in the world.

Now what distinguishes the two or three?

The world and specially the West (forget about Hindus -- they had surrendered to Islam long time ago) should pay close attention when Islamic scholars claim "democracy is un Islamic". Let the West stop being expert on Islam and start listening to Islamic voices emanating from the Isamic seminaries -- not Islamic apologists.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
creeping vines [1160 words]cassanoJan 6, 2007 23:2271923
Voltaire On Iraq [27 words]G.GlazerNov 26, 2006 23:4067439
No contradiction [37 words]OctavioNov 27, 2006 14:2067439
Get out of Iraq ASAP [19 words]OctavioNov 25, 2006 16:3167330
Strongman [180 words]Mitzi AlvinNov 24, 2006 15:0267195
Allawi?!! Been there done that. [116 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Francis BrookeNov 24, 2006 11:3367174
"Could a New Strongman Help?" [198 words]Johanna StephensNov 24, 2006 10:3967163
Perfection [83 words]Julian ZedNov 24, 2006 10:1967160
Why didn't Iraqis vote for Allawi? [34 words]Roger McKinneyNov 22, 2006 11:4766970
It's all about the Middle East [77 words]Mike GNov 18, 2006 08:0466491
Democracy and Iraq [388 words]VinodguptNov 16, 2006 14:5066339
Dodge City [184 words]JoeNov 16, 2006 14:4466337
Democracy? That is too optimistic [365 words]mike bitNov 15, 2006 21:5366267
Rethinking Iraq strategy [310 words]DennisNov 13, 2006 13:3766006
Power Share Will Resolve Conflict In Iraq [78 words]skmillerNov 13, 2006 10:5765990
How about a little responsibility... ? [29 words]MikeNov 13, 2006 03:3865972
iraq [336 words]robert fusfeldNov 12, 2006 11:1265918

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