Islam and the Ballot Box

 

On January 30th the Wall Street Journal carried a column by former CIA Middle East specialist Reuel Marc Gerecht which made the preposterous assertion that Islam would become "moderate" in a democratic setting. Gerecht went so far as to state that Israel would eventually be accepted by its Islamist neighbors when they are all "free men voting."

 

The alarming nature of the column was the fact that this is the advice that has been given to presidents and Congress for many years, and the results have been disastrous, as can clearly been seen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other Middle East nations...

 

I authored a very lengthy rebuttal to Mr. Gerecht which I knew would not be published by the Wall Street Journal, since their editors drink the Kool-Aid that makes them believe the ballot box will eliminate poverty and war worldwide - never mind the fact that Adolph Hitler was duly elected to office by the German people.

 

Because I believe it is so important to expose the thought processes of those in the establishment CIA and State Department who advice the White House and Congress. I am reprinting my WND.com column in this edition of the Chairman's Report... "Pickle Factory" is the  Central Intelligence Agency...

 

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Contrary to CIA specialist, democracy will not "diminish" Islamic imperatives - How a Wall Street Journal rationalizes delusional thinking at the Pickle Factory

 

By William J. Murray, Religious Freedom Coalition, The Chairman's Action Report, 2/8/13

 

The Wall Street Journal used a half page of its editorial space on January 30th to publish a totally illogical, if not delusional, column (Israel's New Islamist Neighborhoo: If Western History is any guide, the growth of democracy slowly diminishes religious imperatives) by former Middle East specialist Reuel Marc Gerecht regarding the future "moderation" of Islam in the Middle East. It appears that the Wall Street Journal editors, economic conservatives who can see no  wrong in the human rights abuses in wealthy Islamic nations, wanted to highlight the column to justify U.S. support of the Muslim Brotherhood in the takeover of half a dozen nations in the vicinity of Israel.

 



Gerecht asserts that: "Israel will one day be accepted by its Arab neighbors and by its deadly foe, Iran - but only when Arab and Iranian Muslim identities allow for it. At best, that change is decades away. Modern Islam's great internal tug of war, between the search for authenticity and the love of modernity, must quiet before the Israel-Palestinian clash can end.

The key word in this paragraph is "modernity" which brings in the assumption that Islam will move out of the 7th Century and somehow accept a Martin Luther who will "fix" Islam with a reformation that will bring ... the equivalent of same-sex marriages in the Episcopal Church.

On what does Gerecht base his assumptions? Later in the column he writes: "Yet if Western history is any guide, the growth of democracy slowly diminishes religious imperatives. Representative government demystifies politics and ethics, as the here-and-now takes precedence over abstract aspirations. It makes the mundane transcendent. It promotes healthy division because it puts competing visions, even competing fundamental visions, to the vote. It localizes ambitions and focuses people's passions on the national purse."

Western history is no more a guide for modernizing Islamic nations through democracy than Stalinist history was a model to modernize China. It took over 500 years, from the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 until the ratification of the American Constitution in 1789, for cultural acceptance of democracy thought despite Judeo-Christian religious base which promotes the dignity of the individual's rights. Islam has no such history or character.

And to what "national pulse" does Gerecht refer? The Super Bowl? Europeans are less in touch than even Americans with any political pulse other than to demand even more benefits from their governments.

Apparently Gerecht sees a morally splintered Western society in which citizens have the power
to vote themselves lavish  entitlements as the model for the Middle East. His discussion of democracy shows his lack of understanding that the words democracy and freedom have different definitions. Democracy is merely a process of electing leaders and is in no-way synonymous with freedom, as can be seen in the United Kingdom where even politicians are jailed for their Facebook comments which are deemed politically incorrect.

In that same paragraph he asserts that democracy "puts competing visions, even competing fundamentalist visions, to the vote." When has this ever happened anywhere? Are the views of Orthodox Jews, fundamentalist Baptists, conservative Catholics or murderous mullahs put to the vote in Western democracies? This is nonsense.

Speaking briefly of  Iran, Gerecht states: "The Iranian people, if their votes could rule, would surely restore diplomatic relations with Washington and possibly even with Israel."

However, this statement on Iran's electoral process is false. The current Islamist president of Iran was elected by a vast majority of the people. The youth who demonstrated in the streets for change in 2009 were a minority, and were easily crushed by the government.

Contradicting his own statement about Iran, Gerecht then says of the new Islamist states around Israel which were created by Barack Obama and his EU partners:

"Their attempts to enforce certain Islamic values through legislation will inevitably produce faction and fatigue. Secularists will grow stronger. And unlike their great liberal forbearers of the 19th and early-20th centuries, Muslim secularists who win in the ballot box will be much less inclined to kowtow to orthodox Islamic sentiments.

Gerecht reaches this conclusion by showing a profound lack of knowledge of the basic tenets of Islam and the history surrounding it. At the end of the article is Gerecht's prediction of peace in the Middle East.

"The age of Islamism and democracy has just arrived. The interplay may be long, arduous and ugly. But it is conceivable that Israelis, Arabs and Iranians will finally find a  modus vivendi based on something more profound than land-for-peace. It will be based on free men voting."

He conveniently does not mention that Turkey, now firmly controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, had a secularist democratic government for decades after its founding by Ataturk. Turkey's constitution outlawed religious political parties, and the army was tasked to protect the secular nature of the nation. After the Muslim Brotherhood came to power - in a democratic election - repression began. Dozen of generals have been sentenced to long prison sentences to long prison sentences for "conspiracies" that allegedly occurred decades ago. Turkey has jailed more journalists than Iran since the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Once an ally of Israel, the nation of Turkey is now perhaps that nation's most dangerous enemy as it is well armed with modern weapons from NATO nations.

Does Turkey represent Mr. Gerecht's vision of "modernity" of Islam under democracy?

 

Mr. Gerecht's ideas about the modernization of Islam under democracy come from his time at the CIA, and help explain the bizarre actions of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama in addressing the Middle East. Apparently our entire security apparatus is advising our presidents that the ballot box is the cure-all for societies based on the 6th and 7th century theology of illiterates whose idea of government was enslavement and the sword.

 

Mr. Gerecht now serves with a conservative think-tank [That is sickening.] that features this article with the image of burning Israeli flag. It is worth noting that almost that almost the entire GOP establishment in Washington, DC back President Barack Obama in giving modern tanks and fighter jets to radical Islamist leaders such as Mohammed Morsi of Egypt.

 

Real scholars, such as Stephen Cougholin, who understand the nature of Islam and who have studied the  great jihad periods of history have been purged from Pentagon, NSA, CIA and FBI in favor of those approved by CAIR (Counsel on American Islamic Relations.) Agency manuals on terror have been cleansed of  words such as "Islamist" and "jihad" in hopes this appeasement will bring democracy and love for the West among those calling for the destruction of the  "Great Satan."

 

With "specialists" such as Reuel Marc Gerecht giving advice to President, Congress and generals, the situation is virtually hopeless and defeat of the West at the hands of the Islamists almost certain.

 

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As you may note I end the column on a very pessimistic note. This was done because I knew it would have wide distribution on Capitol Hill and I wanted to call Congressmen and Senators to the grave nature of the situation at intelligence gathering agencies.  Opinions such as Mr. Gerecht's taint the data received and make men such as Egypt's Mohammed Morsi look far less dangerous than they are. Please feel free to copy and distribute the column.

George H. Kubeck

Another name for Kool-Aid is political correctness. Dr. Ben Carson, hopefully our next President hit the nail on the head.  "Political Correctness is Evil."
Let's read: Islam and Democracy - The Arab Spring: A Shattered Dream of Democracy, by Wlodzimierz Redzioch in the magazine, Inside the Vatican, Feb. 2013