The Taliban was never offically recognised by the US and was eventually overthrown.

I believe democracy will work.
people the world over want the same thing.

Given a genuine choice (real democracy) between a party that wanted to opress me and a party that wanted to build libraries and have free concerts outdoors, guess my vote ?

Thats right pender. the only way to keep WILD ANIMALS is to use force.

Democracy wouldn't destroy Islam, sprint, because they'd keep voting dictators in.

But... if they voted for... say... a libreral democratic party and TRULY embraced freedom of the individual... then yes... their religion would be screwed... because their religion relies on mob mentality and the need to supress other religions to survive. That's what Islam is all about.

Thought I would bring this to a new thread.

For those who hold the ideal of unfettered democracy high above everything else, come hell or high water, the lesson of Turkey is simple: demography is destiny. If you let the hardline Islamists run free, and outbreed the secularists, then kiss your freedoms goodbye and say hello the sharia law and probably much worse.

The protesters chanted:

“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” “Neither Sharia, nor coup d’etat, democratic Turkey,” they chanted …

You can chant until the cows come home, but if you don't control the regressive Islamists and their population, then they will bulldoze all in their path. I suspect since Ataturk brought Turkey out of sharia law and into secularism, the Turks have gradually done soft. The lesson is that only tough measures will keep regressive Islam from taking hold. Democracy, freedom, tolerance, equality - they all mean diddly squat when the hardliners come to town. You can call on your army to help, but in the end, demography is destiny and you will be outbred. The hardliners will soon have their own army.

Mark Steyn's take:

"But among all the lamentations only Michel Gurfinkiel’s recent analysis in Commentary got to the underlying reality: Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, there have been two Turkeys: the Turks of Rumelia, or European Turkey, and the Turks of Anatolia, or Asia Minor. Kemal Ataturk was from Rumelia and so were most of his supporters, and they imposed the modern Turkish Republic on a somewhat relunctant Anatolia, where Ataturk’s distinction between the state and Islam was never accepted. In its 80-year history, the population has increased from 14 million in 1923 to 70 million today, but the vast bulk of that population growth has come from Anatolia, whose population has migrated from the rural hinterland to overwhelm the once solidly Kemalist cities. Ataturk’s modern secular Turkey has simply been outbred by fiercely Islamic Turkey. That’s a lesson in demography from an all-Muslim sample: no pasty white blokes were involved. So the fact that Muslim fertility is declining in Tunisia is no consolation: all that will do, as in Turkey, is remove moderate Muslims from the equation too early in the game. "

Can you please provide a source for your article, talkingtothemoon?

Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” “Neither Sharia, nor coup d’etat, democratic Turkey,” they chanted …

does anyone else see the irony when they are chant "democratic Turkey" and yet they are protesting against the result of a democratic election which the pro-Islamic party won.

i still don't get the issue, we've spoken about it several times on this forum, basically the pro-Islamic party won the election fair & square and as such has a right to be in office. the pro-secular protestors had a chance to voice their views in the election itself - so it's either they didn't vote or they were outnumbered (i.e. a minority).

to protest against the result of a democratic election is very undemocratic like behaviour.