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Jewish World Review June 27, 2005 / 20 Sivan, 5765 Democracy on the march By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice raised eyebrows when she criticized the
human rights record of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a visit to Cairo
Monday.
"We are all concerned for the future of Egypt's reforms when peaceful
supporters of democracy — men and women — are not free from violence," she
said.
Rice went on to criticize the human rights record in Saudi Arabia, the next
stop on her Middle East tour.
After Rice linked Syria's "long and continued presence" in Lebanon to the
assassination of an anti-Syrian Lebanese politician, Syrian state radio said
Wednesday America's plan for the Middle East "is no longer a secret."
"The plan which was launched with the U.S. war in Iraq is continuing today
in Lebanon," Radio Damascus said.
Indeed it is. President Bush's strategy for winning the war on terror is
obvious, but sometimes the obvious must be repeated over and over before
people pay attention.
America's enemies are also enemies of freedom and democracy. Our enemies
are our enemies mostly because they fear we might bring freedom and
democracy to their neck of the woods. So Bush made a conscious decision to
ally the United States with freedom and democracy the world over.
History is the tale of one war after another. Dictatorships fight other
dictatorships, dictatorships attack democracies. But democracies don't
fight other democracies. (The last time two democracies squared off was in
the War of 1812.)
So how is the Bush doctrine doing?
The chairman of the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution told the
newspaper al Sabah Monday the document was 80 percent written. "The final
draft will come out with an Iraqi spirit and there are actually little
differences to debate," Humam Hammodi said.
"Bottom line, the people won the war when they said their word on the 30th
of January and since then, many of the hesitant elements have recognized the
winning side and began joining it while the barking dogs will have nothing
left to chew on but their bitter defeat," said the Iraqi web logger Omar.
Lebanon concluded its first fair election in decades last weekend, and the
mullahs in Iran held a sham one. The results of both contain good news for
the United States.
In Lebanon, an anti-Syrian coalition won a solid majority of seats in
Lebanon's parliament (although not, alas, the two-thirds majority required
to oust the puppet president Syria installed). The victory was made
possible by the withdrawal, in April, of the Syrian troops who had occupied
Lebanon since 1976.
The Syrian withdrawal was forced by the "Cedar Revolution" that was sparked
by the murder by Syrian agents of popular Sunni Muslim politician Rafik
Hariri in February, and inspired by the success of the Iraqi elections the
previous month.
The withdrawal is only partial, since many Syrian intelligence operatives
remain in Lebanon, and likely were responsible for the assassinations of
George Hawi this week and an anti-Syrian journalist June 2nd.
But it has been a major loss of prestige for the Baathist regime of Syrian
President Bashar Assad, and an even bigger blow to Syrian pocketbooks, since
much of Syria's meager wealth consists of what it has looted from Lebanon.
Speaking of hypocrisy, the first round of the Iranian election June 17th was
so clumsily stolen that it didn't even fool the New York Times.
"One of the reasons why I have been so concerned about Iran for such a long
time is that I fear the mullahs' cleverness, ruthlessness, and ability to
mount brilliant deceptions," wrote Michael Ledeen.
But, he said, "They couldn't even stage a phony election without appearing
inept and thuggish...And the spectacle of intense internal conflict among
leading figures in the Islamic republic makes me wonder if the revolution is
beginning to devour its own fathers and sons."
Bush has put democracy on the march in the Middle East. It is making
America and the world safer.
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© 2005, Jack Kelly |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
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