America works to force its ideals upon Muslim populations

In his recent speech to the National Endowment for Democracy, President Bush stated the case for greater liberty in the Muslim world. He stated that the tyrannical regimes - though many of them sponsored by the West for decades - were coming to an end, and that the calls for liberty and democracy were stronger than ever. He stated “The progress of liberty is a powerful trend”, and he mentioned,” As men and women are showing, from Bangladesh to Botswana, to Mongolia, it is the practice of democracy that makes a nation ready for democracy, and every nation can start on this path”.

Yet whilst America claims that its ideals are powerful and entrenched in the Muslim world, it acts in a despotic and underhanded fashion to ensure that its ideals meet no challenge or resistance.

Such was the desperation of the US to gag any voice other than its own, that it is reported a series of meetings were held at the headquarters of the Security Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, discussing “US-Qatari relations in light of the role Al-Jazeera has played in inciting anti-US sentiment”. Some of the suggestions made are reported to have included the following: transferring its largest military Gulf base to another Gulf state, minimizing its civilian presence, cancelling the 50 -year-old defence treaty between the US and Qatar and withdrawing most other US support to Qatar. The meetings are said to have concluded with a strong recommendation to the Qatari government that it, "take urgent steps to consider closing Al-Jazeera" or, "substitute the current staff with moderate and neutral ones"...

As a third and final example illustrating how America attempts to influence the flow of information, an edict on ‘Prohibited Media Activity’ was released in Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which effectively censored the newly ‘liberated’ Iraqi press. CPA Order Number 14 states that media are prohibited from broadcasting or publishing material that encourages civil disorder or, "incites violence against coalition forces." The editor of ‘As-Saah’, one of the most widely read newspapers in Iraq, charges that the press edict decreed by Paul Bremer, the American who is head of the CPA, lays out restrictions similar to those under Saddam. In reference to the coalition forces, he said, “Now they put plastic bags on our heads, throw us to the ground, and accuse us of being agents of Saddam Hussein" One editorial read, "In other words, if you're not with America, you're with Saddam."

http://1924.org/comment/index.php?id=841_0_13_0_M

sums it up now doesn't it. Another shining example of US exported freedom, huh?