Christian neocons’ silence on calamitous effect of democracy on Iraqi Christians

Carol Iannone writes:

I was listening to EWTN’s coverage of the papal visit with commentary by Fr. John Neuhaus and others. Much of Neuhaus’s commentary has been very valuable, but at one point he kind of boasted that the leftish hope that the pope would confront Bush on Iraq had been entirely displaced, and that of course Benedict had evidently done no such thing in his meeting with the president. But then one of the other commentators said, quite innocently, that the real problem in Iraq was that Christians were being horribly harassed and persecuted. Neuhaus had no answer to this and the conversation just went on to another topic.

Why don’t neoconservatives, especially those who are Christian, face up to what is happening with the experience of “democracy” in Iraq? Christians were actually better off under Saddam. To say that is not to defend Saddam, but facts are facts. (And in Iran, Jews were better off under the shah—women too.) Democracy in Iraq has opened up tribal and religious animosities we have no idea how to assuage, and Iraqi Christians have become the victims of our promotion of “universal values.” Neoconservatives should acknowledge this contradiction in their thought, that spreading democracy in Muslim lands may be at the expense of Christians. And they should at least stop glorifying our “success” in Iraq whle Christians there have to live in fear or flee the country.

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LA writes:

Curious how, just as the Jewish neocons married themselves to President Bush’s insane Muslim democracy agenda, which among other things handed Gaza to Hamas, and so gave up caring about Israel’s security, Catholic neocons in similar fashion are indifferent to how Muslim democracy has been ruinous to Christians in Muslim lands. It seems that any intellectual and moral life the neocons may once have had, has been supplanted by a single, remorseless idee fixe: Bush and Democracy uber alles.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 19, 2008 01:59 PM | Send