Democracy in the Middle East? As I ponder US policy in the Middle East, I find myself in a conundrum. On the one hand, I know that a strong U.S. military presence in the Middle East is absolutely necessary to prevent militant fundamentalist Muslims from destabilizing the governments of oil producing countries as a means of bringing down western civilization. However, the argument by the Bush administration (that is, the third argument, after WMD’s and “Sadaam is a very bad man”) ….. that we are fighting the war on terror in Iraq to bring democracy to the Middle East is bogus. Each time I ask a person the pivotal question, ”Is it ever possible for a democracy to peacefully coexist with a fundamentalist theocracy?” The answer is unanimously, "never”. The essence of democracy is not the right to vote; it is equal standing in the eyes of the law for all of its citizens. In a fundamentalist theocracy, there are two classes of citizens…. believers and non- believers. In a fundamentalist theocracy, the non-believers are not considered to be of equal standing; they may be denigrated, castigated, or subjugated. In some holy books, believers are told that they must convert, enslave, or kill the non-believers. This would include those who live in a democracy. Peaceful coexistence is not a prescribed option. In a democracy, the laws are manmade and recorded in a document like the constitution. Since the laws are manmade, they are imperfect and when improvements are necessary from time to time, they are determined by a legislature. The application of the laws to any specific situation is the responsibility of judges. In a theocracy, the laws “come from” a deity and are recorded in a holy book. Since the laws are from a deity, they are perfect, and a legislature is not necessary. However, the application of the laws to any specific situation is also determined by judges; and who better to judge the intent of the holy book, then the holy men? And if ever a conflict exists between manmade law and holy law, the holy law is supreme. Fundamentalism is the leading problem in the world today. Whether the theocrats are Muslims, Christians, or the tiny number of ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel, fundamentalists jeopardize democracy. Perhaps, the reason that the Bush administration uses the phrase “war on terror”, rather than “war on fundamentalism”, is that the fundamentalists who support his administration would take strong objection to the latter characterization. But over the last five years, it has become obvious to me that when a conflict exists between our man-made Constitution and their Biblical beliefs, the constitution is brought into question and they work to put other fundamentalists on the Supreme Court. Nice work by Karl Rove. As I have previously argued, a democracy cannot peacefully coexist with a fundamentalist theocracy. In fact, some students of middle eastern cultures point out that for thousands of years, middle easterners, both Arab and non-Arab, have been more interested in just rulers than in the means by which they come to power. Based on the traditional low voter turnout in US elections, one might conclude the same for many Americans. After all, how many times have we heard someone say, “Why should I bother to vote? Nothing is going to change.” Apparently, those citizens who don’t vote are more interested in just rulers, than in the means by which they come to power. Some cite Turkey’s “Muslim democracy” as proof that democracy can be implemented in a Muslim dominated country. But Christian Turkish citizens say that they do not, in fact, have equal standing in the eyes of the law. So, even if we can impose the beginnings of a democracy in Iraq, their desire to integrate Sharia law with their constitution will be a persistent source of internal conflict and attract other fundamentalist theocracies to join the opposition to a true democracy ---equal standing in the eyes of the law for all of Iraq’s citizens. We seem to be on a futile course, unless our reasons for being in Iraq are still undisclosed. I, for one, welcome our ability to protect our interests by have a strong military presence in Iraq.