On 15 Aug 2002 at 23:47, Blunderov wrote:
> joedees@bellsouth.net Thu 2002/08/15 08:29 PM wrote:
>
> It could only be portrayed as a bad thing by those autocratic rulers
> of Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Syria, etc.) who
> would feel threatened by the existence of another more democratic
> alternative within the region, and thus feel constrained to offer
> their solidarity with a fellow despot.
>
> [Blunderov]
> That would be quite a lot of Islamic consensus, however misguided.
> Their underlings in the Arab street would be likely to agree with them
> - you have, I think, pointed out some pretty emphatic verses in the
> Koran which make it clear that it is the duty of all Muslims to stand
> with their brothers against the people of the book.
>
> I wish I shared your confidence that the Islamic world would nod
> understandingly and turn a blind eye, while an embarrassing apple was
> quietly removed from the barrel. Perhaps they will.
>
> You must please not think that I am espousing the wonderful world of
> Islam. But I am afraid that there is a significant risk that an attack
> against Iraq will be perceived and characterised, whether rightly or
> not, as an attack on Islam itself. People like simple formulations,
> especially those that conform to what they already believe.
>
> I think at this point I am going to absent myself from any further
> conversations on the subject of Israel, Palestine, Islam and Iraq.
> Possibly this comes as a relief, of one sort or another, to some but I
> don't have anything more to say, and it is apparent that there is
> nothing new to be heard. This is boring.
>
The proverbial and dreaded 'Arab street" loves a winner and abandons
a loser; the demonstrations that took place upon the beginning of the
US toppling of the Taliban have all but disappeared. I truly believe that
this is also the pattern that would be followed during a toppling of
Saddam and his Tikrit cabal. As to those other autocratic leaders, I can
envision them publicly bitching and moaning, while privately being
relieved that the Iraqi expansionist threat has been wiped from the
Arabian Peninsula radar screen once and for all.
>
> Warm regards
>
>
>
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