And the U.S. will rue the day when our leaders were this bland and accepting of Islamic supremacist Sharia governments.
“WH: “˜Democratic Process” More Important Than Islamist Victories in Arab Nations,” by Patrick Goodenough for CNS News, November 29:
(CNSNews.com) — The Obama administration is again playing down concerns about the rise of Islamist movements in Arab countries in transition, even as developments in Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and Egypt indicate that the so-called “Arab spring” may leave Islamists in charge clear across North Africa.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is widely expected to dominate parliamentary elections that began without incident on Monday and will be held in three stages over the next six weeks.
“We regard these elections as a blessed portal through which Egypt shall cross safely to democracy and the transfer of power to the Egyptian people,” the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, said in a statement as the polls opened.
Asked during a briefing about the election and the possibility of Islamists winning, White House press secretary Jay Carney replied, “The fact of the matter is, the democratic process is what’s important.”
“Principles matter to this president, not parties,” he continued. “And we hold whatever party prevails or is represented in the outcome of an election like this — whether it’s in Egypt or elsewhere — our standards have to do with respect for human rights, respect for the democratic process, renunciation of violence, and inclusion of and respect for minorities in the process.”
Carney said it was “unfair to assume that any party that has a religious affiliation cannot adhere to democratic principles. It is simply not the case and has not been borne out by the facts.”
What facts? When has a ruling Islamic party ever hewed to democratic principles except for short-term pragmatic gain?
“So, before we judge the disposition of a government or a parliament that is only just beginning to take shape through elections that have started today, I think we need to let the process run its course, continue to espouse our firm support for democratic principles and for civilian control of the government, and then judge the outcome by the actions of those who prevail,” he said.
At the State Department, spokesman Mark Toner adopted a similar stance.
“We”ve been very clear about how we view the Muslim Brotherhood, which is that if they”re committed to the democratic process, we welcome them as a part of the political process,” he said.
Asked about organization’s support for Hamas and its views on the Arab-Israel peace process, Toner said only that “we would call on any Egyptian government to adhere to its previous commitments and agreements.” […]
Monday”s remarks build on earlier ones by administration officials, emphasizing the view that — in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s words — “what parties call themselves is less important than what they do.”
“The suggestion that faithful Muslims cannot thrive in a democracy is insulting, dangerous and wrong,” Clinton told a National Democratic Institute awards dinner earlier this month.
What was important, she said, was an adherence to democratic principles.
During a press briefing on Oct. 25, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also disputed a reporter’s premise that there was a “rise of fundamentalism in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.”
“I think what we are seeing is we are seeing newly democratic, newly free people and populations feeling their way forward,” she said.
A day earlier, she responded to a question about shari”a forming the basis of countries” legal systems by saying that the term shari”a “has a broad application and is understood differently in different places and by different commentators.”
Whenever confronted with the elements of Sharia that outrage human rights, Islamic supremacists and Leftist useful idiots pretend that Sharia is completely nebulous. Yet there is agreement among the various schools of Islamic law over 75% of Sharia rulings, and whenever Sharia is implemented, it looks the same.
“We”ve seen various Islamic-based democracies wrestle with the issue of establishing rule of law within an appropriate cultural context,” Nuland said. “But the number one thing is that universal human rights, rights for women, rights for minorities, right to due process, right to transparency be fully respected.”
Good luck with that.