Madam, - Kevin Myers, writing about the recent atrocity at the UN headquarters in Baghdad (An Irishman's Diary, August 22nd), says democracy is the key element in the fight against Islamic terrorism and that America holds the key. This sounds a rather simplistic approach to the complex issues of Iraq and the Arab Islamic world.
Democracy, with some exceptions such as Egypt, has made very little impact in the Arab world. For example, many pro-western Arab states such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are not democracies, but are ruled by what could be described as "benign" dynasties. Their rulers are careful not to offend the bedrock of their culture, namely, Islam and its values, be it Sunni or Shi'ite.
Democracy, which stems from ancient Greece, is all very well for western-educated Arabs, but to the mass of indigenous people who have never been to the West, democracy means very little. They are fatalistic in outlook and are happy with their lot so long as their rulers do not interfere with their Islamic beliefs.
The key to the problem in my view is that the West must start by asking the right questions. Why do fundamentalist Muslim terrorists behave the way they do? Why do they feel so threatened by the West? When we begin to find answers to these questions, then we are moving in the right direction.
There is no quick fix or easy solution to the problems in Iraq, and while democracy is to be welcomed from a Western perspective, it will take a long, hard and difficult road to achieve it. - Yours, etc.,
JOE MURRAY,
Pembroke Road,
Dublin 4.