Reza Aslan: Bush Right about Democracy and Terrorism

[Busticate]

Great that he is attempting to address ignorance towards the people of middle-east in particular, yet he fails his own. For instance, we know that the majority of people in Iran want a secular government. Possibly, an Iranian version of Liberal Democracy. Seems to be the case in Egypt and Tunisia. One must not forget that governments here are not representative of people. Hezbollah, Hamas, Taliban are not state actors, not representative, and not funded by people. Merely, stooges!

[ReadingMostly]

Worth recognizing that Hezbollah indeed can only take part in a democratic process if its encouraged. So lets unpack that - It essentially means requiring them to give up all the agility it has as a non-elected group with government support to conduct its activities. Then eject primary ideas about how societies are run which are infact distinct from modern democracy... So why do people need reminding that they are the ones that constantly walk away from talks of their own volition. Grow up Reza.

[HKNajjar]

Well articulated.

[bhigr]

By letting Islamists take part in the political process you turn each and every country into a nightmare like Gaza, Iran, Sudan, ... We are not responsible for the grievances of the islamic world. Colonialism ended more than 50 years ago. These people are responsible for themselves.

[xlunax86]

What choice did we have but to treat them like a gas station. Ignore them as if they didn't exist, we dealt with the government that was available to us. We would prefer democratic, pro-western governments. We tried after WWI, it didn't go. What more can we do? The only proven method to change the government is coup d'etat or revolutionary war, listen to world cry. These regions didn't experience the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, Enlightenment, Modern Age, Computer age, are they ready?

[IranianAtheism]

@xlunax86 Iran had a democracy with Mossadeq up until 1953 when the West decided to overthrow him because he had nationalized Iran's oil. It's simple and clear, America supports dictators and wants profits over people. As for these "ages" you list, was it not Europe that was in a dark age while the Near East was in a golden age? Have you forgotten Algebra and Trigonometry for starters were created by Iranians? Learn how the cycle of history works you shameless Orientalist.

[xlunax86]

@IranianAtheism What are you suggesting America declare war on every country in the middle east until they are democracies. One we don't have the reason second what in for us, other than dead soldiers. Do you own fighting, as Egypt and Tunisia have proved, no one was ever stopping them, but themselves. So shut the fuck up you lazy atheist. Oh learn your own history your democracy was corrupt and crumpled on it's own. Your king was the only thing holding it in place.

[xlunax86]

@xlunax86 rea//son --> resources

[xlunax86]

Islam didn't create this golden age of knowledge they merely inherited it from the Oriental empire the same way Christianity absorbed the Occidental empire.

[IranianAtheism]

@xlunax86 The point is Iranians are not "backwards" or "primitive" or "lost in civilization".

[bhriguaneja]

Americans treat a lot of regions like gas stations, nuclear dumps or just a place of easy, cheap and effective resources. Take the rest of the world for instance. The African continent, many South American countries, Asia. Why is it the Al-Qaeda, the Palestinians the only few countries that come up with extremist groups that cultivate reasonings and justifications to bomb their countries up. It is near impossible getting democracy to work in these countries. I don't think he makes much sense.

[TheMercilessEye]

LOLOL... This argument might have some actual validity if A ) George Bush had actually been the originator of that thought (the only thoughts he's actually capable of originating are 'What's for Lunch?' and 'When does the Country Club open?') and B ) If America actually WAS a democracy anymore - which it isn't: it's a corporate-controlled Plutocratic Oligarchy. This guy might as well be holding forth on the validity of PETER PAN as a deterrent for Radical Islam...pfffft. Major fail.

[rickjack76]

He is making a decontextualized argument. We have to ask ourselves if it's the methods used or the ideology which are the issue. Was Nazism acceptable so long as it remained in Germany's borders, or was it an issue of international Facism? In many ways those who would utilize legal methods to create and enforce the same thing that the Jihadis want are scarier, because they are not such clear enemies. Such ideologies cannot be contained once a critical mass of power is achieved.

[carma231458]

Hmm, okay, we'll give him credit for what he has right: Bush, democracy, Al Qaeda, military action...the rest needs to be examined and re-examined. Don't fully trust the man.

[BiblesOnLine]

Americans are brainless or dumb beyond imagination

The egotistical Bush bankrupts this country by taking us to unnecessary war.

The only interest Americans have is to please Zionists at all costs.

The Zionists have looted the American banking system, and yet America is still sending billions to Israel.

The western counties are all slaves of the Zionist, and the media house propaganda because the Zionist controls our corrupt politicians.

[BiblesOnLine]

The Church programmed the Christians to worship Jesus, now they started programming the Christians to worship Israel.

Christianity is a superstitious belief, hollow belief, and the opium of the people.

95% of the peoples of the world want to be told what to do, and how to behave.

U. S. created more wars, more dead, more orphans, more widows, more homeless, and more tortured under the name of liberty and democracy than totalitarianism.

[Westchaser]

Here's a similar story: a bully kicks your butt and then he wants to build a fort in your front yard with the pathetic chance that it may enhance friendship. Forget that! We need to have zero trust and zero tolerance for the iSLAM nation. Build the mosque and it will end up like the one in Orlando FL where (in 2009) hamas fundraisers were secretly held with bids starting at 10,000 USD. Just google "Orlando mosque busted" and you'll be able to watch the leaked video yourself.

[truescholars]

Reza Aslan, Irani better life in the west is going to now tell us what is right and what is wrong.

[johnedwards1968]

Nationalism was a FOIL to Islamism in Iraq, prior to Bush's invasion. He speaks well, but on all counts he's WRONG.

This is the typical, dressing up of a pig's ear as a silk purse. I'm sorry, but this man is just not intelligent.

[BaderDean]

krm686, zionism is not about the right to the jewish or the israeli people to exist, its their "right" to establish a racist and colonial state that oppress, kills and exclude non-jewish indigenous and neighbours... Defending the right for a Zionist State to exist is exactly like defending the right for a USA ruled by KKK ideology to exist... Zionist may be for democracy but ONLY when it's democracy between israeli jews. The arab party whithin Israel simply don't count when voting bills!

[krm6886]

Regarding Hamas and Hezbollah, what happens when our descriptions of "less extremist" and "less radical" still involve firing rockets at civilians, racist and apocalyptic propaganda flowing from elected officials, violent crackdowns on democratic rivals, kidnappings, and outright refusals to acknowledge a state's (and its people's) right TO EXIST???

Aslan is right: democracy is the answer to extremism and totalitarian ideology. But the rest of this video is dubious at best.

[haroos]

the hizballa got an opportunity to participate in democracy ?

are you actually listening to this ?

the hizballa is backed by syria, which killed al hariri, and iran which threaten the whole ME !!!

what a joke.

[azaquihel]

hey bro usa did not gave ballots to the japanese 70 years ago .......

the terrorist did not gave ballots 9 years ago ........

so leader with faint heart ready to retaliation (yep it is all about retaliation ) but be sure we fuck them first .......

understand the enemy and save lives seem to be last chapter on the military agenda

[timetochilli]

i was goin wid it until he said turkey... looooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooollllll­llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll­lllllllllllllllllllllll...i am turkish and the islamists now have completley destroyed the country. they are not real muslims

[modelfan1979]

I like Aslan but he, and Bush are wrong about the value of democracy in the Islamic world. More often than no, Islamist groups that achieve power via democratic means, destroy the democratic system once they get in power.

They use the states power to carry out terrorist attacks.

The Arab people's suffering is solely due to two things. 1) Extremist Islamic groups 2) Arab governments. That is all. There are no other reasons.

[SeeProfileForDetails]

so modelfan what you are saying is instead of putting in democracy, they need to be blown up and destroyed. Which, is, kind of, well....

[modelfan1979]

@SeeProfileForDetails No. I never said that. I simply said that putting in an unchecked Democracy results in failure. A secular Republic, with a constitution that specifically outlaws the religious parties and Islamic law, Shariah and ensures secularism is what is needed. But no government has the guts to do this.

[mingalabaa]

@modelfan1979

You are wrong. Arab people suffering because of the meddling from outside.

[modelfan1979]

@mingalabaa Arab people are suffering becuase they refuse to take responsibility for their own situation. The EU, Israel and the US have given the Arabs literally hundreds of billions of dollars in Aid. We built all of the infrastructure for oil throughout the Middle East and we have purchased hundreds of billions in oil.

So where is all this money going? The Arabs get far, far more aid (at least three times more) than Israel or any individual country.

[trakkaton]

Aslan, talk about the US gov drug trafficking, Al CIAda, the ISI, the Basra Two (SAS), the Saudi dictatorship, depleted uranium, IsraHell Apartheid, genocide, the banksters, the MIC,...

...the TRUTH!

[sheshe670]

he is a wise man i hope no one listen to him who is against iran .

[gratefulundead9]

I like this guy a lot. He makes very cohesive and potent arguments. But I would like to ask him (respectfully) how he feels about innocent Palestinians starving and suffering at the hands of, not just Israel, but a belligerent Hamas. I'm also curious as to how there is so much anti-West sentiment within these groups and yet foreign dollars have sustained oil-rich regions. (A weird relationship, indeed.)

But I love listening to him. He's well-informed; incredibly logical compared to tv pundits.

[mingalabaa]

@gratefulundead9 Palsetinains are not suffering at the hand of Hamas. Hamas built hospitals, built schools, and fed the people.

[modelfan1979]

@gratefulundead9 I have a question for you. Why did the life expectancy of the Palestinians triple since the 1967 war? Why did the infant mortality rate go down by over 60%. That is the fundamental flaw of you and other anti-Zionists. Yes, Israel isn't perfect. Yet it is still far better than ANY Arab Muslim country. ANY.

P.S. People aren't "starving" in Gaza. Israel, Europe and US ship tons of goods to Gaza and West Bank.

[halflifeproductionz]

@gratefulundead9 his probably the only muslim who tells it like it is. fuck hamas and fuck israeli warlords. Pro-PEACE!!

[KhanZazai]

hahahah look who is talking, who has never seen a mujahid.

talking rubbish

stupid moron

[nurnia]

look! reza coloured his hair black!

[IpsaPaphum]

Al Qaeda is "not fighting a real war". They're just "fighting a war of the imagination". Well said, Mr Aslan

[AFGHANVIEW]

they probably fucked this iranian faggot very hard

[LeGioNoFZioN]

no I haven't but thanks I will now

[LeGioNoFZioN]

so your solution is ? I'm not disagreeing with you, just want to see where this line of reasoning goes.

[LeGioNoFZioN]

ok you got me there, Republic is better than plain democracy. I concede. you prefer democratic republic or do you have other ideas ?

[artformeandyou]

Power to the People!

[jside]

Go Reza!

[1GangRelated2]

I live in the Netherlands, and say that this guy is talking a lot of sh!it.

Bush = Al Quida.

Let him bring some miliairy action to Bush.

This guy is there to tame the people

[mignon79106]

Idiot! Stay in your country, and let us do your fighting for you , numb nuts.

[1GangRelated2]

Stay out my way shiteater, you're not doing anything but fighting for your own interests.

At least; that's you Think(you're just pulling someone else's car).

You aint got any nuts you cowardly b!tch ass zombie.

SPIT

[1GangRelated2]

It would be better for him to cut off his tongue

[1GangRelated2]

Were is the democracy , US, EU?

Corporate inslavement.

Al-CIA-da Is a war of imagination.

Who runs your democracy ?

What is the anwer to that ?

[LeGioNoFZioN]

so what is a real form of government ?

you give credence to the old saying that democracy is the worst form of government except everythying else

[ChuckyHammer]

Cosmic impulse? Anybody care to explain.

[tenor185]

The cosmic impulse would be the impulse to find a solution for grievances in a much broader initiative that transcends national bounds. For instance, starting a war between religions: Islam v. Christian. We saw somewhat of a cosmic slant from both George Bush and Osama Bin Laden (Good v. Evil empires) Hitler followed his 'cosmic' impulse when he decided to exterminate jews on a world wide scale in response to national greivances.

[humanist7117]

Democracy can be highjacked.

[lonovik]

Yes It could be hijacked as right wing nuts did in America.

[zanzalot]

America is not a democracy. It is a "representative" republic. That can be hijacked but not a direct democracy.

[P3t3rG1]

fagball

[Politicrafty]

Democracy might be the answer to Islamic militancy, but George Bush was not right about just about anything. Bringing an election to Iraq was not a step towards spreading democracy. Bush did not want to recognize the democratic process when it supplied us with Hamas. Democracy is important, and had it been in place in the US there wouldn't have been a Bush presidency in 2000.

This was a good speech though. Bush was wrong on 99 percent of what he did. Hideously wrong.

[FreeBDesh]

An ever-growing cascade of violence tells us that we are approaching a time when we will have no choice but to confront two disturbing realities:

• Islam is fundamentally incompatible with democracy as we know it, because it opposes the individual freedoms and protections that citizens of democracies cherish.

• Muslims are in the process of using our own democratic institutions to subvert democracy and to replace democratically determined laws with the Islamic Laws.

[Hesam0000]

Agha Reza,

You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

The only think George Bush was right about is how much explosive it takes to bring don the towers.

[arplayer2k]

Instead of saying he was wrong, refute his argument. That would be the logical thing to do if you have any wisdom to share.

[Hesam0000]

In the first minute of his speech he has enough mistakes that it'll take me another 5 days and 20 pages to explain.

I say another because I seem to spend hours trying to clear so many people's mistakes on youtube and it's taking it's toll on me.

I just give you an example:

Listen to time 0:45 to 1:05.

That is BULLCRAP.

He doesn't even know that Alqaedeh was created by a Saudi millionaire Osama who was sick & tired of this same millitary aggression, military bases, puppets, regime changes++

[arplayer2k]

First off, AQ was started by Bin Laden, a CIA trained operative. His family is worth billions, not millions. They, however, do not have much to do with him other than last name.

There are a few of your misconceptions cleared up. Maybe do some research before you start writing your 20 page paper... so you actually have facts backing it up.

[Hesam0000]

First off! you're repeating what I just wrote.

Osama IS Bin Ladin!

He was never a CIA-operative, he was against all US influence. His relative on the other hand dealt with Bush, bought Bush's oil wells to gain control with his father,then CIA chief

Million and Billion is not the point either.

They do not have much to do with him because HE wants nothing to do with them, it was he who gave up his money and left. Saudi king also on the surface dislikes him but God knows what they do in secret.

[sexlessparents]

ohhhhhhhhhh your so fucking smart

fuck off

[Hesam0000]

So that's how sexless people talk!

Hmmmmm

[DerafsheKavian]

Religion has been around for some time. It may not go entirely away anytime soon. Allowing for other tendencies such as national aspirations to mix in helps demote religion gradually and it makes it less of a factor in political life.

[xxashyy]

I could only watch 2 mins of this nonsense from this guy.

[TimTrimT]

Try Ritalin.

[arplayer2k]

It hurts to come out of the darkness of ignorance and be educated, doesn't it? That means you would have to form opinions based on fact not your own bullshit viewpoint which has no significance for anyone other than yourself.

[suzhouhe]

Hooooold on, tiger. Reza Aslan is not, and never has been, a neocon. He's saying that giving Islamic zealots a voice in democratically elected governments tend to encourage them to temper their views over time. At no point did he say anything about invading Muslim countries and forcing them to adopt democratic reforms while holding a gun to their heads. So when Palestinians elect Hamas politicans to their Parliament, we should respect their decisions. Agree or not, get his argument straight.

[Chrisnoscrub047]

I liked this guy when I heard his commentary on Bill Maher. But now I realize that he is just another statist. An insightful one on religious affairs, but still a statist.

[Blackliam]

is statism inherently bad or something

[Chrisnoscrub047]

yes. :(

[stuffisgd]

Nice guy. makes some valid points. however religion on the whole is a huge problem moderate or fundie. it's gotta go.

[averylbrooks]

"Nice guy. makes some valid points. however religion on the whole is a huge problem moderate or fundie. it's gotta go."

/agree

[sexlessparents]

ur sir r an asshole

[mignon79106]

you should know....takes one to know one!!

[mignon79106]

Whatever....how old are you?

[tucciproducer]

"Religious nationalism" will only sew seeds for future religious extremists. Secularism is the only cure for the disease of religious terrorism.

[DrunkAtheist]

Notice how he places less emphasis on theological grievances.

[FreeBDesh]

He is a liar. The best way to fight terrorism/Jihadism/ Islamism/Politicol Islam/Wahabism/Islamofacism/ex­tremism (whatever u wanna call it) is to mock Islam so that the terrorist cannot get moral support from the mainstream Muslims who approve of their theology. The more they claim "Islam is peace", the more Muslims will legally take over and the more the terrorists will be theologically approved off.

[TimTrimT]

I mock you.

[mignon79106]

Same to you .

[arplayer2k]

You have your head up your ass. Some people are too stupid to be allowed to comment.

[suzhouhe]

Yeah, because when people mock my opinions I know it strongly encourages me to reflect on my beliefs and try to understand their point of view. In fact, I'd like to see Obama take this up as official policy. Call it "Neener Neener You're Stupid" diplomacy.

Is this working on you, FreeBDesh?