Originally Posted by
Rex Brynen
It depends, of course, which militant Islamists we're talking about. Some (Hizbullah, Hamas) are indeed mass movements. Others (AQ, PIJ) are small networks of cadres.
I agree that many of the latter won't change their orientation if ME peace breaks out and Arab authoritarianism begins to succumb to third-wave democratization. However, I do think there would be significantly fewer of them, and the challenge would be much more manageable.
(For the record, I don't think either regional change--peace or democracy--is likely soon, nor did I ever think that the Bush administration had a coherent or feasible democratization strategy of any sort whatsoever.)
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