DAR AL HARB - U.S.A.: THE UNITED STATES SHOULD SUPPORT THE LIKES OF HAMAS OR THE MOSLEM BROTHERHOOD IF THEY WON IN DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS

US Should Support Muslim Democracies, Pollster Says
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
January 24, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - The United States should support genuine democracies in the Muslim world, even if those democracies oppose U.S. policies and interests, a Gallup pollster said Tuesday.

Dalia Mogahed, executive director of The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, told Cybercast News Service the U.S. needs to decide whether it should support "popular democracy, in which the government will reflect more of the people's sentiment" or whether it should support "what are sometimes called friendly dictators."

"Anti-American sentiment and public sympathy for extremism is correlated with the perception of U.S. opposition to authentic Muslim autonomy," she argued.

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the center released the results of a new poll of Muslims surveyed in 22 countries.

"In Muslim countries, an overwhelming majority of people [polled] said they most admire the West's technology, liberty, democracy and freedom of speech," Mogahed said.

At the same time, she added, "most [Muslim respondents] disagree that the U.S. is serious about supporting the establishment of democratic governments."

"It extends this distrust that the U.S. is really insincere about allowing or promoting these values in their part of the world," Mogahed said.

According to the human rights watchdog Freedom House, Arab nations that have strong ties to the U.S. are classified either "not free" (Egypt, Saudi Arabia) or "partly free" (Jordan, Morocco, Yemen).

In the non-Arab Islamic world, countries with close ties to Washington include Indonesia ("free"), Malaysia ("partly free") and Pakistan ("not free.") Freedom House bases its assessment on scores for political rights and civil liberties.

Mogahed said the U.S. should support "genuine democracy" in the Arab world even if it brings to power those who "disagree vehemently with U.S. policies."

"There is a danger in ... not lending true support to indigenous democracies, which then increases anti-American sentiment and possibly even [leads to] an increase in popular support for terrorism," she said.

"There is a correlation in popular support for extremist acts and the perception that there is a political domination and control by the United States on peoples of the region," Mogahed added.

The Gallup poll also found that "most Muslim countries want the values enshrined in shari'a (Islamic law) to have some role in legislation."

"[Islam] is really a source of great pride and the society's greatest asset," Mogahed said. "Islam is clearly going to have to play a role as we go forward. Respect for Islam is central to improving relations with the West."

"Because of the high religiosity as well as the support for shari'a as a source of legislation, we do predict that free elections are likely to keep producing religiously based parties, especially in the Arab world," she added.

...

It makes me wonder if the great minds inside of the Beltway actually considered what "bringing democracy" to the moslem street would mean...

If their reaction to the election of Hamas by the Palestinians is any indication, they never thought about it...I am not even going to mention the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistans and what they enshrine...


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1) US Should Support Muslim Democracies, Pollster Says