U.S. Official on Propping Up Islamist Democracies
by IPT News • Jan 6, 2012 at 3:40 pm
http://www.investigativeproject.org/3369/us-official-on-propping-up-islamist-democracies
Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, stated in a recent editorial for Dar al Hayat, that American officials will work with Islamist parties to prop up emerging Arab democracies.
"We are less concerned what a political party or organization calls itself than what it does in practice, and we will reach out to those who act according to democratic principles, respect their fellow citizens' rights, and do not use force or violence to impose their views," Feltman explains in the op-ed.
The Obama Administration's goal is "to reach out beyond the traditional government and business elites not only to articulate clearly our own goals but to listen to a wide spectrum of views. This includes reaching out to Islamist parties, who now play an important role in the political transformation of many countries in the region."
The United States intends to support the new democracies with both governmental aid and private economic investment. Feltman saluted the efforts of major American firms like Pfizer, Marriott, and Microsoft, who have already invested in Tunisia's new Islamist-led democracy. He also discussed the Administration's effort to convince Congress to facilitate job creation in Egypt, academic exchanges between the countries, and to "develop […] 'Enterprise Funds' to foster private-sector development."
The commitment of Islamist parties to democracy and human rights remains to be seen. While officials from Tunisia's Al-Nahda party and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood have said all the right things to Western news sources, they have continued to use traditional extremist rhetoric in addresses to their political base. Several Islamist groups also support a policy of gradualism, by incrementally introducing Islamism into local society and building their relationship with other Islamist regimes in the direction of a renewed Islamic empire [Caliphate].
Related Topics: IPT News
Read More: State Department, Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Nahda, Democracy
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Reader comments on this item
What the heck?
Submitted by luchadora41, Jan 11, 2012 21:47
Propping up Islamist democracies? What in the world is our government doing? Have they not read or been informed about the part that says Islamists want world domination? Do they not realize that Muslims are allowed to use al-Taqiyya to deceive us, and that they are using stealth jihad to achieve that goal? My goodness, can't we say thanks, but no thanks, to doing business with them? We don't need their oil, we can drill our own if the usurper of the White House were in Leavenworth, charged with Treason.
While we're at it, let's get the UN out of the U.S. and vice-versa. We don't want Agenda 21, we like our Constitution, no Sharia, thank you very much, and we sure don't need UNHRC 16/18 shutting us up about Islam and taking away our freedom of speech. Oh, and CAIR needs to be shut down as well. We offend them? They offend us.
Naive Idealism
Submitted by Charlie Griffith, Jan 11, 2012 20:33
Any "Isamist Democracy" is in itself, and of itself, an oxymoron.
This "administration" of Obama's is a group of useful idiots, vulnerable to all comers.
The Impeachment of Obama and Holder.....and/or a Republican landslide is required.