But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled.

According to this view, democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background.

We know of the nature of the regime in Syria. We constantly try to inspire them toward more democracy, but playing with Syria would be dangerous and could prove to be a worse situation than Iraq.

Similarly, it is argued that the culture of Islam is incompatible with democracy. Basically, this conventional perspective of the Middle East thus contends that democracy in that region is neither possible nor even desirable.

Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.

Several experts on the Middle East concur that the Middle East cannot be democratized.