DEMOCRACY? ISN'T THAT JUST DEAL CUTTING?:

A dose of democracy for Pakistan (Syed Saleem Shahzad, 4/17/07, Asia Times)

Al-Qaeda's resurgence and its new modus operandi through home-grown militant groups in the Muslim world has gone a long way toward prompting Washington to revise its approach to the "war on terror". In this, the promotion of democracy and social reform plays a significant part in confronting al-Qaeda.

This is especially true in frontline "war on terror" states such as Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are ruled by virtual dictatorships.

Washington has engaged in backchannel diplomacy with these countries in an attempt to promote more representative government, but in the case of Saudi Arabia with limited success. For instance, this year several advocates of a constitutional monarchy have been arrested by the General Intelligence Services (al-Mahabith al-Amma). These include prominent lawyers and academics.

With regard to Pakistan, month-long mediation by the US has resulted in former prime minister Benazir Bhutto apparently agreeing to share power with President General Pervez Musharraf before or after presidential elections this year. This was done last Friday in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the residence of a Pakistani tycoon and in the presence of a US State Department official.

Secularists probably can't win and govern democratically, but they do have greater incentive to kill Islamicists.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 17, 2007 10:01 AM