How have the U.S. and Europe contributed to the power of tyrannical governments in the Muslim world?
All too often European and American policies toward the Arab world have been predicated on an unspoken assumption: that these people are incapable of democracy, that it s inevitable that they will be ruled by tyrants, and that they are on a lower level of civilization. We hold them to a lower level both in what we expect from them and what they may expect from us. We don t expect these people to live by civilized rules. In this perception, the aim of policy is to ensure that they will be ruled by friendly, not hostile, tyrants. I find this approach deeply insulting, morally reprehensible, and, in the world of today, politically unworkable. What should the U.S. government and the West be doing to nurture democratic movements? I think what we re doing now is exactly right encouraging genuine democratic movements and refusing to have dealings with these brutal and corrupt tyrants, starting with Arafat. I think the most immediate thing we should concentrate on is Iraq and Iran helping the
