A (Very) Grudging Acceptance of the Bush Policy's Benefits

Writing in Dar Al-Hayat Palestinian firebrand Amer Rashed is forced to admit that with the war on terror, specifically the invasion and occupation of Iraq, America has accomplished something that Arabs were not able to do for themselves. Following a long opening paragraph full of the obligatory bile tossed freely at "Zionists" and "neo conservatives", Rashed says this:

...if we look deeply upon this issue we will discover, within the framework of the benefits and impacts of this hostile policy, that the changes are not negative, for it opened the files of the democratic reform in the Arab world, after decades of despotic and totalitarian regimes the Arab people suffered. These regimes violated the basic rights of the Arab citizen, under the slogans of resisting the Zionist expansionist project. Freedom was confiscated, the resources were depleted and the new Arab project of development was relinquished.

Rashed goes on to assure his audience that the motives of America were venal, but he can't squirm away from the indisputable impact the Iraqi elections had on the area.

The Palestinian and Iraqi elections came to ask the very intricate question: how will we explain to ourselves that the first free, direct, plural and democratic elections occurred in light of the occupation, at a time when the issue of democracy in the Arab societies is a captive of the dispute between the totalitarian regimes, concerned by their personal interests and the Americans demands and pressures?

Of course, just because radical, militant Arabs are recognizing the Democratic Spring (and its catalyst) in the Middle East, that's no reason to think that the Administration's loyal opposition ever will.