Roger Cohen's "The Arab Gdansk": More Penetrating Wisdom from The New York Times's "Globalist"

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "The Arab Gdansk" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18iht-edcohen18.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Roger Cohen writes:

"Islamist parties must commit to democracy rather than exploit democracy for despotic ends."

A remarkable thought! Imagine: If only Mr. Cohen had been around to tell Hitler in 1932, after the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag, that his National Socialist Party must "commit to democracy rather than exploit democracy for despotic ends," perhaps World War II could have been avoided.

Never mind. World War II is water under the bridge. Meanwhile, I spent last night soliciting the opinions of various Islamist parties around the Middle East regarding Cohen's demand that they commit to democracy.

Hamas, which came to power in Gaza by way of democratic elections in 2005, is not willing to hold new elections. Instead, they are still busy consolidating power in the Gaza Strip by imprisoning and executing Fatah opponents, while persecuting Christians and gays.

I spoke with acquaintances in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who can't wait for the opportunity to take power once 82-year-old Hosni Mubarak departs the scene. Meanwhile, however, they stay busy by persecuting Egypt's Christian Copt minority, as evidenced by the massacre outside a church in Alexandria earlier this month, which left 25 persons dead.

As Roger himself can tell you today, after trying to explain to us for the better part of 2009 that Iran is "not totalitarian", Iran is indeed totalitarian, and there is no place for political moderation or freedom of speech in that country, where murder and torture of Baha'is, Kurds, Sunnis, homosexuals, women, journalists and political dissidents is the name of the game.

I tried to speak with Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, whose Hezbollah party (i.e. Party of God) just brought down the Lebanese government, owing to a forthcoming indictment by a UN tribunal, pinning Hezbollah with responsibility for the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Unfortunately, Nasrallah was not willing to emerge from his bunker to answer my call.

Finally, I did manage a word with Libya's dictator, Muammar Qaddafi, who voiced avid support for Cohen's suggestion. Qaddafi referred me to his speech broadcast by Al Jazeera on April 10, 2006 in which he stated:

"Some people believe that Muhammad is the prophet of the Arabs or the Muslims alone. This is a mistake. Muhammad is the Prophet of all people. He superseded all previous religions. If Jesus were alive when Muhammad was sent, he would have followed him. All people must be Muslims. . . . We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe - without swords, without guns, without conquests."

At least Qaddafi, the butcher of Lockerbie, able to perceive the hidden value of democracy, was willing to listen to Cohen's voice of reason.

[The New York Times refused to post this comment online in response to Cohen's op-ed.]