reconciliation islam democracy and the west

Reading Benazir Bhutto's Reconciliation shows just how much we lost with her death. We owe it to her-and to ourselves-to listen, comprehend, and act., This is a courageous and powerful answer to hatred and intolerance, written by an extraordinary woman.

A courageous woman-tragically killed-speaks to us of reconciliation. It is impossible to understand today's world without knowing Pakistan and impossible to understand Pakistan without reading this book.

After reading this book, it will become even clearer what the world has lost by her assassination. Bhutto presents an image of modern Islam that defies the negative caricatures often seen in the West. Democracy and Islam are not incompatible, and the clash between Islam and the West is not inevitable. She speaks out not just to the West, but to the Muslims across the globe who are at a crossroads between the past and the future, between education and ignorance, between peace and terrorism, and between dictatorship and democracy. She traces the roots of international terrorism across the world, including American support for Pakistani general Zia-ul-Haq, who destroyed political parties, eliminated an independent judiciary, marginalized NGOs, suspended the protection of human rights, and aligned Pakistani intelligence agencies with the most radical elements of the Afghan mujahideen. In this riveting and deeply insightful book, Bhutto explores the complicated history between the Middle East and the West. She was a renaissance woman who offered a way out. With her experience governing Pakistan and living and studying in the West, Benazir Bhutto was versed in the complexities of the conflict from both sides. She believed that by enabling dictators, the West was actually contributing to the frustration and extremism that lead to terrorism. Bhutto persuasively argues that America and Britain are fueling this turn toward radicalization by supporting groups that serve only short-term interests. With extremist Islam on the rise throughout the world, the peaceful, pluralistic message of Islam has been exploited and manipulated by fanatics. In Reconciliation, Bhutto recounts in gripping detail her final months in Pakistan and offers a bold new agenda for how to stem the tide of Islamic radicalism and to rediscover the values of tolerance and justice that lie at the heart of her religion.

But she continued to forge ahead, with more courage and conviction than ever, since she knew that time was running out-for the future of her nation, and for her life. Upon a tumultuous reception, she survived a suicide-bomb attack that killed nearly two hundred of her countrymen.

Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October 2007, after eight years of exile, hopeful that she could be a catalyst for change.

Reconciliation islam democracy and the west