Anti-American Pests Trying To Stand In Freedom's Way...

This column, appearing in The Australian (and linked by RealClearPolitics.com), is written by Amir Taheri, an Iranian author. Taheri skewers the anti-war leftists on both sides of the Atlantic who marched in favor of keeping Saddam Hussien in business.

"THROUGHOUT the debate that preceded the liberation of Iraq two years ago, supporters of Saddam Hussein claimed that any attempt at removing him from power by force would trigger an explosion in "the Arab street". As it turned out, the explosion they had predicted did take place, but only in Western streets, where anti-Americans of all denominations, their numbers inflated by the usual "useful idiots", marched to keep the Baathist butcher in power. More than two years later, however, the Arab street seems to be heading for an explosion. From North Africa to the Persian Gulf and passing by the Levant, people have been coming together in various "Arab streets" to make their feelings and opinions known.

These demonstrations, some big, some small, have several features in common. Unlike the rent-a-mob marches concocted by the Mukhabarat secret services, this latest spate of demonstrations was largely spontaneous. Nor are the demonstrations controlled by the traditional elites, including established opposition groups and personalities.

In almost every case, we are witnessing a new kind of citizens' movement, an Arab version of people power in action. But the most important feature of these demonstrations is that they are concerned not with imagined external enemies – be they Israel or the US – but with the real deficiencies of contemporary Arab societies. In almost every case the key demand is for a greater say for the people in deciding the affairs of the nation."

It's bad enough we had drag these fools kicking and screaming into this new era of fighting terrorist-harboring rogue States, but the resulting burst of freedom in the Middle East isn't even cause for celebration among these Anti-American appeasers.

"I spent part of last week ringing up the organisers of the anti-war events with a couple of questions. The first: Would they allow anyone from the newly elected Iraqi parliament to address the gatherings? The second: Would the marches include expressions of support for the democracy movements in Arab and other Muslim countries, notably Iraq, Lebanon and Syria? In both cases the answer was a categorical no, accompanied by a torrent of abuse about "all those who try to justify American aggression against Iraq"."

The Left continues to dig in its heels against this new wave of change that has overcome the people of the region. These people are at last being inspired to change the current "blame the West" mentality that has allowed ruthless dictators and terror masters to distort the teachings of Islam into Wahhabi-driven hatred for the West. No thanks to some of those who continue to downplay the significant of these history-making events. Taheri asks the question:

"Why are so many Westerners, living in mature democracies, ready to march against the toppling of a despot in Iraq but unwilling to take to the streets in support of the democratic movement in the Middle East?

Is it because many of those who will be marching in support of Saddam Hussein this month are the remnants of totalitarian groups in the West plus a variety of misinformed idealists and others blinded by anti-Americanism? Or is it because they secretly believe that the Arabs do not deserve anything better than Saddam Hussein?

Those interested in the health of Western democracies would do well to ponder those questions."

Amen, brother.

Posted by: Gary at 12:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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