HELIOLITH

“In the eyes of Muslims, American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering.” This is an excerpt from the Defence Science Board, an advisory panel to the Pentagon, as reported today by the BBC. You might think this is an overdue observation, and it may very well be nothing more than marketing, but the report flies directly in the face of current U.S. foreign policy.

The report goes on to say that our alleged interest in the democratization of Islamic countries is seen as hypocritical as we systematically support the biggest tyrannies as they kill and oppress across the muslim world. They state, “Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies,” and “US actions appear… to be motivated by ulterior motives, and deliberately controlled in order to best serve American national interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination.” I wonder how seriously people entrenched in the “war with the Islam world” perpective can hear this news.

For a good summary of the relationship between Islamic thought and democracy, check out this article on Islamonline.net. The essay explains that the secular separation of church and state typical to U.S. attempt at democracy does not appeal to many Muslims, but that the Qur’an clearly commands collective consultation (shura) and God imparts governing authority to the entire Muslim community (khalifa).

To somewhat partially spoil a good thing, (or perhaps to make common sense wisdom palatable to Machiavelli) the report ends with some ominously Orwellian talk about the “information campaign.”

With an increasingly neoconservative posse of confidantes in office, do you think it’s a long shot (read: “absurdly idealistic) to hope that someone in power might take this news to heart?