Do the citizens of Arab countries need our help to achieve regime change?

Question

I hear that most Arabs are peace loving people and that it's just a few bad apples that support terrorism...yet the excuse I hear why these people don't protest their government is that dissenters tend to get killed. Fair enough but...

given that, this situation sounds very much like the fear typical German citizens had to deal with when they couldn't effectively stand up to Hitler.

So wouldn't we be performing a SERVICE if we helped these good people overthrow their tyrannical governments? Then they will be able to enjoy the freedom to speak out AND peace.

Answer 1

I know the Persians in Iran ask my sister, who travels there on business, if she could "ask Bush to come get rid rid of our leaders".
I would imagine the way the Iraqis celebrated in the streets and ripped down the statues of Saddam are a good indication of how most of the middle easterners feel.

Answer 2

It is not that simple.

The US only supports having a democratic government as long as it serves it's propose for the US.

The US did not even pressure Egypt to have Democratic elections, because if they did, an Islamic majority would have won, and it would have been anti-America( in actually, it is anti American Imperialism)

Another example is the election of Hamas, Hamas won the elections in a Fair manner, but the US decided that democracy is not always ok and decided not to deal with them.

America does not do anything to change the regime in Saudi, because the current regime allows American presence on Saudi soil. A democratically elected government would not allow such a thing. Additionally, Saudi owns around 7% of the US economy. So Basically, they can hurt America if they withdrew their investments.

At face value America appears to support democracy, but if you check History, you will find 10s of instances were the CIA or some other secret service org assassinated or tried to assassinate democratically elected leaders because they did not share America's policies or views.

To better understand how America does foreign policy I highly advise you to watch a movie called Syriana

Answer 3

Good point. I find it amazing that the muslims I've seen on all of the news outlets are upset and disgusted that they are being lumped in with that small-ish percentage of Islamofascists or Islamic Extremists with respect to generalizations about their religion, etc.. They come across as vicitms. However, what we, the world, needs is some Islamic leader from Birmingham or High Wycombe or New York or Cleveland to organize a rally, get on the news, have a march, throw a block party (Anything! Please!) and denounce the terrorists, hunt out and close those mosques responsible for poisoning their youth, put the vibe out there that their followers are "as mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore!"... then I think I'd feel a whole lot better about it. It can't all be done from without.. it has to be done from within to a large degree..

Answer 4

~So what you are saying is that if the Russians don't like the fact that we put nukes in Turkey and aimed them at Moscow, the Soviets should be able to plant some in Cuba and flatten Miami, right? Or that if the Chinese are fed up with the fact that the fundamentalist "christian" rightwing facists have taken over American politics, they should be able to invade and substitute their own regime?

Has it occured to you that when those in power have acted on your sentiments, the response is for folks to want to fly planes into our buildings? No? Then wake up and learn how to think and reason.

The fact that some people want to change their government but lack the ability, guts or know-how to do it does not rescind international law precluding preemptive war and invasion to foment rebellion. And, have acchieved your goal of toppling a duly organized and legal government and substituting in its stead one which the natives are incapable of sustaning, what will you do with the dissidents left behind who supported the government you just illegally destroyed? Oh, that's right. You will support the next invader who decides to come along to change it back, or to change it into something else.

By the way, initially at least, the German people supported Hitler resoundingly, and the rest of the world was not overly concerned about his racial and religious policies. He did wonders in pulling Germany out of the turmoil created by the WWI "peace" treaties, and his people loved him for it.

Maybe we should just stop supporting the tyrannical governments you condemn and the tyrants who run them (including Sadam, the Shah, Marcos, Diem, Battista, Peron, Stalin, ad nauseum.) It may be naive on my part, but I'd rather focus on the homefront and give inner city blacks and hispanics a little bigger piece of the pie, or maybe send some food and education into Appalachia, or possibly even make life a little more livable on Indian reservations. But, if I was French, I doubt that I would petition Paris to invade Harlem or Pine Ridge to cure the injustices there. You, of course, to be consistent, would have to welcome North Korean troops and nukes into Watts.

Answer 5

If you think the situation in Iraq is good, then the answer to your question would be YES. However some of the most tyrannical governments (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan) are our allies. Oops.

Answer 6

If anything, we need them to enforce free speech laws here. Matt Hale and Chester Doles have been imprisoned on transparent anti-free-speech laws, and Randy Weaver had a 13 year old son murdered for fighting back against Federal Marshalls shooting his dog when they had no excuse to even be on the property. Arabs only have the right to free speech in America (I'm sorry if you're talking about another region) if they accord the same to whites, but I have to respect my Arab brothers in the Middle-East, and in particular Ahmadinejad, for their courage.

Answer 7

It would that we supported regime change through political actions. Not through invasion. I don't think they'd trust a republican though to assist them. I mean look at the mess we've made in Afghanistan and in Iraq. And lot of cons forget that Bush 1 promised to help the people in southern Iraq when they rose up but didn't support them when they needed it.

Answer 8

It doesn't matter what we do. It always seems to be wrong in some ones eyes. It's getting very old trying to be the good guys. Even though I know it doesn't work. I would love a little isolationism for awhile.

Answer 9

If America controls Israel.s territorial ambitions and settles the Palestinian question fairly, democracy in the Middle East will come naturally.People will have time and energy to solve their internal problems.America's achievements in Afghanistan,Iraq and Lebanon are so far a failure.

Answer 10

...but our "help" might be taken as "the US trying to police the world", which isn't popular with many people (including Arabs) right now

we're trying diplomacy, which sometimes works; a free exchange of ideas & trade also helps (it has in China)