One of the biggest pretexts that was used to justify staying in Afghanistan and in Iraq after our initial victory was that we should establish Democracies there and nurture it. The theory that was invented by Neo-Wilsonian Academics was that if democracy was established in those places, it would spread like wildfire in the Islamic World. Although the theorists were well meaning and were using the collapse of the Communist block as an example. They apparently didn’t know the history of Dar Al Islam. They thought freedom and free markets appeal to these people. They were wrong and many Americans died over this Muslim Democracy project.
Lee Smith has written a book on Islamic political thinking called The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations . He thoroughly debunks the Muslim Democracy concept, as well as the blame Israel ideology of the Left. He explains that Muslims value violence and it is a natural part of their politics. The Arab Muslims love a strong man and admire the conquests/genocidal wars their ancestors perpetrated on other people. Democracy is meaningless to them.
Smith develops six central insights in his book.
Arab political history is a history of the powerful ruling the weak through violence.
Islamic terror and governmental tyranny are the two sides of the coin of Arab political pathology.
Liberal democratic principles are unattractive to the vast majority of Arabs who believe that politics is and by rights ought to remain a violent enterprise and prefer the narrative of resistance to the narrative of liberty.
Liberal Arab reformers are unwilling to fight for their principles.
Read the rest: Israel the Strong Horse
Although the article is mostly about how Israel must not show weakness, the part about Islamic political thinking is revealing. I recommend this book to anyone who still believes that the loss of American blood and treasure is justified in imposing Democracy in the Middle East. This concept has met the reality of the Islamic world. Dar AL Islam is not the Old Soviet Union or Imperial Japan. It is an even more evil entity that has led to the exterminations of millions through the centuries. America must confront this threat, but not in the name of Democracy. We must smash them, humiliate them, take resources and leave. The Muslims only respect strength and that is the truth.
Tags: Dar Al Islam, Islamic Democracy, Neo-Wilsonian Compassionate Conservatism
