Posted on 03/03/2005 12:49:34 PM PST by quidnunc
In 2003, more than a month before the invasion of Iraq, I wrote in the Weekly Standard that the forthcoming fall of Baghdad "may turn out to be one of those hinge moments in history — events like the storming of the Bastille or the fall of the Berlin Wall — after which everything is different. If the occupation goes well (admittedly a big if), it may mark the moment when the powerful antibiotic known as democracy was introduced into the diseased environment of the Middle East, and began to transform the region for the better."
At the time, this kind of talk was dismissed by pretty much everyone not employed by the White House as neocon nuttiness. Democracy in the Middle East? Introduced by way of Iraq? You've got to be kidding! The only real debate in sophisticated circles was whether those who talked of democracy were simply naive fools or whether their risible rhetoric was meant to hide some sinister motive.
Well, who's the simpleton now? Those who dreamed of spreading democracy to the Arabs or those who denied that it could ever happen? Of course, the outcome is far from clear, and even in Iraq democracy is hardly well established. Yet some pretty extraordinary things have been happening in the last few weeks.
The most extraordinary event of all, of course, is Iraq's Jan. 30 election, when 8 million voters cast ballots despite insurgent bombs and bullets. Weeks earlier, Palestinian voters had trooped to the polls to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat. They chose Mahmoud Abbas, who proclaims his desire (sincerely or not) to end the armed struggle against Israel. Then, on Feb. 10, Saudi Arabia held its first-ever municipal elections. …
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(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I've heard the weather in Hell has cooled down quite a bit...
A big TOLD YA SO to all the small minded hand wringing liberals out there.
its running out of virgins
Don't see President Bush being called a dumb cowboy too much anymore do we?
You know, it's fun to be right!
I liked the Liberal hype at the beginning of the President's first term of office. They said that Bush had no 'foreign policy' experience. How much experience does it take to know right from wrong? How much experience does it take to take a position and go forward? The Liberals make everything way more complicated than it ought to be and then achieve NOTHING.
Too bad. There's so many people I'd truely love to see get their arse's cooked good.
The Blue state snickering is petering out.
It's one thing to be ignorant but know it. It's much worse to be ignorant and think you know something. Republicans and conservatives don't know everything. But liberals have put themselves in the position of believing that they are the sole repository for all that is good, beautiful, and true in life. The fact that they actually know next to nothing about how things really work clearly illustrates them as the jackasses they are as the mideast developments are proving. Not for nothing is their symbol a donkey.
maked for later review.
"I told you so" ping.
It might be just a tad too early to be self-congratulatory. Yes, elections were a smashing success in Iraq, but there are still over 100,000 Americans armed to the teeth over there propping up the results of that election. Far too many times before we have declared victory and disappeared, only to have the festering sore we left behind turn to gangrene.
I have never been in favor of George's Excellent Adventure in Iraq and still oppose the action on principle, but you can't argue with results. Now is the time to make sure we walk out the door upright, with well wishes behind us instead of backing out, wary of flying daggers.
It's definitely too early to be self-congratulatory, and nobody should kid themselves into thinking that the transformation is going to be complete overnight. However, it's not a matter of whether or not it's going to happen, it's just a matter of when.
Some time in about five to ten years from now, Bush's strident opponents and mockers are going to look every bit the bunch of fools as Reagan's did after the Wall came down and Eastern Europe was finally freed. The Arab tyrannies are just as doomed to eventually go on the ash heap of history.
I certainly hope you are right. However, Arab tyranny has a 1500 year history whereas Communist Totalitarianism was a relative Johnny-come-lately. That's not to belittle Reagan's accomplishment by any means. The Soviet menace was more subtle but far more deadly than the threat from Arabic Islam.
If a short taste of Democracy and freedom is all that is needed to overcome 15 centuries of cultural indoctrination, then I will be very impressed. The cynic in me doubts that very much, though.
Never underestimate the real effects of "neocon nuttiness".
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