> I don't think I mentioned brown people.

You may as well have. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Arabs (the largest group of people in "that part of the world") are not white.

> I have relatives who are as brown as they are.

Ah, the classic "I have friends/relatives who are X" defense. Nothing proves you're not being racist like bringing out that chestnut.

> If you think I am racist, you don't know me very well. Yes, I know you didn't exactly say that.

If I didn't say it exactly, I meant to. You made a claim about an entire group of people based solely on their heritage. What else should we call it?

I said I was surprised and expected better from you precisely because it goes against what I've come to expect from a man who generally seems in favor of tolerance. Apparently you don't extend that tolerance to people in the Middle East.

> I was not expressing an opinion as much as reporting what I have observed. If they want to stop killing each other, why don't they stop?

What "they" do you mean? Do you really believe a majority of people in Iraq or the Middle East are taking arms against one another? If so, you are not reporting observations that have any basis in fact.

> It worries me that we are organizing police and military organizations over there, and we are giving them weapons, and teaching them to fight.
> Can you understand why? Please, no claptrap.

It seems that you don't believe Arabs are capable of being anything other than savages. Yes, that is racist.

I think you absolutely need to understand what you're saying. You are arguing that Arabs in general and/or Iraqis in particular are incapable of handling democracy because they are descended from "poor, nothing-to-lose, desert tribes."

Can you understand why this is similar to many arguments advanced in favor of genocide, slavery, imperialism and other evils?

If you want to make a complex argument about Arabic/Iraqi/Islamic culture I'd be interested in hearing it. But I don't think you have one that's much more advanced than "they're savages."

Stephen

P.S. I'm interested in seeing how your argument about how "that part of the world" is incapable of handling democracy deals with Turkey.