The Big Pharaoh Speaks:

In the midst of all the talk about democracy and freedom in the Arab world, one crucial issue still remains an untouched hot potato which is the call to reform the religion Islam. I believe this issue remains the most central and supercedes the importance of democracy and political reform in the greater Middle East region.

Natan Sharansky was a political prisoner in the Soviet Union for nine years. A massive international campaigned for his release.

At one point, Sharansky's wife met with a White House official. She was shown a map of all the world's problems that were caused by the Soviet Union, and was told something like, "Don't you see, your husband is just a small matter, we have to solve these big ones first by encouraging the Communists to change."

Sharansky's wife responded: "What you don't understand, sir, is that your big problems won't get solved until my husband is released."

Indeed, the release of Sharansky was part of the political process that legitimized the dissent that contributed to the implosion of the Soviet Union. Although Communists still exist, no one talks about changing them, because they just don't matter much anymore.

America, led by President George W. Bush, is putting its faith in the Iraqi people. We are giving them the chance to escape the bonds of slavery and establish a free society. It is a great experiment. Perhaps Democracy is Islam's only hope, after long sufferring, to experience submission to G-d, rather than submission to man.