Because we are a nation of appeasing idiots. Even though Democrats would have you believe the U.S. is more like Sherman leaving Atlanta.

Come on, fuel cells...

So the Arabs and Muslims are barbarians who deserve no quarter and do not have any diplomacy.

So why the hell are Americans fighting to give them democracy since it sounds like it can't be done?

Why...could it be that the West is special and that the Greco-Roman and Christian traditions are unique and that Sharansky and the boys have only neoconned themselves?

Nah....

The Saudi delegates were very open about it before they even arrived---they promised they would not even shake hands "with the Jewish delegates."

But remember everyone, Islam is the Religion of Peace !

"Yes, that was the number one answer!"

Sharansky isn't in favor of spreading democracy-in the narrowest sense of purely majoritarian rule-to countries that have no pre-existing democratic norms or internal nongovernmental institutions. He supports providing the necessary tools to dissidents who are making fledgling moves towards erecting a civil society within despotic Arab-Muslim states.

He explains all of this in his latest treatise:

The Case for Democracy

I don't see what is unrealistic about following Sharansky's plan, especially when we and the incipient samizdat of, for example, Iran, share mutual interests. Supporting the Cedar revolution in Lebanon, or buttressing the legitimate demands of Kurds living under the tyrany of the Assad regime by threatening to use our leverage with the PUK/KDP parties in Iraq Kurdistan-instead of kowtowing to a brittle Iranian client state-or providing material support to striking bus-drivers, Sufis, Arabs and other ethnic or religious minorities in Iran, etc...

All of these are preferable to our current policy, which amounts to kissing to the rings of potentates from rancidly corrupt petro-states, archaic sheikhdoms, and military dictatorships in the Middle East who want to curtail America's regional interests and obliterate our few allies in that part of the world.

To our friends? You should see what the state-controlled press writes and cartoons about Rice!

chsw

I think one of the biggest mistakes we continue to make is even attempting to make peace. I mean, seriously, Israel and the Arabs are like a married couple who got divorced after repeated, documented, irrefutable acts of infidelity, abuse, and downright emotional cruelty. Oh, and then one of the spouses moved in with their paramour, is continuing to live with them, and constantly remarks on how much of a better lover the new spouse is to all their mutual friends.

Now, would we expect these two people to reconcile? No. So why do American Presidents _repeatedly_ attempt to solve this problem? Just once I'd like to see a President say, "I'm not looking for peace in the Middle East...it's bad for arms sales and development" followed shortly by the announcement that we will recognize, by treaty, wherever the borders are in 6 months and that the only restrictions on foreign arms sales are items which are inherently nuclear.

Cold? You betcha, but it's a hell of a lot more realistic than hosting a conference where one side _refuses to acknowledge that the other gets to speak_. That's the sorta sh*t that should've resulted in some fat guys in Bedouin robes swimming in Annapolis harbor. ("You want to be a**es? Fine, _swim_ home you arrogant pr*cks--maybe some shark will mistake you for a sea lion.")

Bad boy, this has nothing to do with Islam, it has to do with arrogant despotic pricks who interpret their holy book to their own ends. Let's face it, if it wasn't for their oil reserves, the world wouldn't care about them or have anything to do with them. That, and they'd probably have been chucked out of power (and probably existence) by (ironically) peace-loving muslims angry at their assing about with their relidion to help themselves!

bryan wrote,
"...this has nothing to do with Islam, it has to do with arrogant despotic pricks who interpret their holy book to their own ends."
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Uh, bryan, are you referring to the 'holy book' called the Koran ?
Yep, it has everything to do with Islam.
Israel is the Saudis' perceived enemy because the Israelis are infidels by the definition in the Koran.

Badboy, the saudis have proclaimed themselves the best interpreters of a fairly straightforward holy book, and suggest it allows, for instance, for a woman to be flogged for allowing herself to be gang-raped. Owning an army means they can do this. Without that army, who knows?