The march to freedom in Lebanon, following the historic elections in Iraq, is giving pause to many critics of current U.S. policy in the Middle East. The Independent, a high-profile and stridently liberal, relentlessly anti-Iraq War and anti-Bush British paper today wonders, "Was Bush Right After All?"

Trucks carrying Syrian soldiers began to file out of Beirut yesterday.....however circumscribed, the first phase of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon is another sign of change across the Middle East.....(a) host of other developments....suggest the political straitjacket that has long imprisoned the Arab world is loosening, if not yet coming apart at the seams.

It is barely six weeks since the US President delivered his second inaugural address, a paean to liberty and democracy that espoused the goal of "ending tyranny in our world". Reactions around the world ranged from alarm to amused scorn...No one imagined that events would so soon cause the President's opponents around the world to question whether he had got it right.

That debate is now happening, in America and beyond, as the first waves of reform lap at the Arab world. Post-Saddam Iraq has held its first proper election. In their own elections, Palestinians have overwhelmingly chosen a moderate leader. Hosni Mubarak, who for 24 years has permitted no challenge to his rule in Egypt, has announced a multi-candidate presidential election this year. Even Saudi Arabia is not immune, having just held its first municipal elections. Next time around, Saudi spokesmen promise, women too will be permitted to vote.

Most remarkably of all, perhaps, popular demonstrations in Beirut last week brought the downfall of one pro-Syrian government and - with the help of fierce pressure from Washington and the EU - the agreement by Syria to start withdrawing its troops in Lebanon.

It does get hard these days for nuanced Westerners, doesn't it? Always rooting for tyranny, oppression, educational and economic stagnation to carry the day in the Middle East - even as the times they-are-a-changin.'

Conservatives: the new liberals. On global democracy, at least.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at March 8, 2005 02:10 PM

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