Harris - Dawkins - Harris & Iraq

November 13th, 2006 Book Review, Politics

Sam Harris’s “Letter to a Christian Nation” and Richard Dawkin’s “The God Delusion” naturally lead to reading, again Sam Harris’s “The End of Faith”.  All three are worth reading carefully (as opposed to Ann Coulter’s “Godless”).  But a most interesting – if too simple – conclusion can be drawn from all this reading.  And it relates to the war in Iraq.

Both Harris and Dawkins decry the mythology of religion with particular focus on Islam.  While fundamentalist Muslims constitute the extremist Islamic faction, given the tenets of the Koran, virtually all Muslims are fundamentalists.  Their faith is all about purging the earth of the infidels.  And those Muslims who engage in the holy war (jihad) are insured their place in heaven as well as martyrdom.  Given the vehement differences between the Muslim sects and the corresponding hatred (not fundamentally different from those underlying the unrest in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics) between the Sunnis and Shiites, installing a peaceful, stable government in Iraq seems very unlikely.  As Harris points out, give Muslims the right to vote and they will vote in a theocracy because that’s precisely what they believe they should do.  And since “which” theocracy is a point of contention, civil war is inevitable.  Hence it is folly to keep American troops there in an effort to install a democratic government when no democratic government is desired.

Notwithstanding the human rights violations of Saddam Hussein, his regime was at least relatively stable, if disconcerting to the West.  It is entirely possible that by deposing Hussein, for specious reasons at best, we’ve gone from the pot to the fire.  Saddam Hussein and his regime were self-regarding – as will be a Muslim theocracy. Given the comparative dynamics – which one better to have nuclear weapons?  And as to human right violations, the carnage that is likely to follow in Iraq will make Saddam’s tenure seem like a stay at Disney World.