Subject: [lbo-talk] Sauce for goose & gander Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
The ever ruminative William Safire ponders the question of Arab maturity in his NY Times column today thus: "Even in the flush of triumph [in Iraq], doubts will be raised. ... The most insulting question is this: considering their Islamist religious schisms and tribal hatreds, their tradition of monarchy and obedience to dictatorial regimes, their turbulent 'street,' easily inflamed by demagogues - how can any population of Arabs be entrusted with democracy? The answer to that is the experiment on which the Iraqis are now embarked. Most start with the advantages of being literate, not fundamentalist and extravagantly oil-rich." <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/10/opinion/10SAFI.html> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20030410/168ef2d5/attachment.htm>