NEWSPAPER COLUMNS
 ¶ Most Recent
¶ Miscellany
|
COMMENTARY
March 12, 2005
More optimism
Having presented the positive side of developments in the Middle East in recent columns it is time to glance at the other side of the ledger. The good news is that spreading from Beirut and now in public squares from Morocco to Pakistan citizens of authoritarian Arab and Muslim states are demanding Western-style democracy and constitutional government. The Arabic word Kifaya! which means "Enough!" is being shouted all over. The bold American action in imposing democracy on Afghanistan and Iraq has had precisely the resonance the Bush administration predicted. And the quick action of the U.S. State Department and others to make an international issue of the election in Ukraine has contributed more fuel to these freedom torches. Modern media and especially the Internet have carried the message with unprecedented speed. There are now pro-democracy demonstrations even in Bolivia. And within the Islamic realm even in distant Kyrgistan yurt cities on the model of Kiev have been established in the public squares of two towns to house the (mostly young) people who have devoted themselves to full-time confrontation. But as we know from Iraq itself democracy does not just happen in response to public demand. It is hard enough in a country with no serious history of constitutional developments in the right direction to build the necessary institutions. Like Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem it must be done with one hand on the trowel and one on the sword. The terrorists of the Sunni Triangle are still doing their best to wreck the project in Iraq. In Beirut the Iranian and Syrian-sponsored Hezbollah terrorists have succeeded in mobilizing huge numbers to take the streets explicitly against Lebanese independence and democracy waving pictures of the Syrian dictator Bashir Assad and shouting the sort of slogans we remember from George Orwell's "1984". President Bush has boldly reiterated that the U.S. intends to give cover to those throughout the region who demand reforms. But the U.S. military is finite and it remains to be seen what the U.S. is prepared to do practically where push comes to shove. One thinks of Iran in particular where for years now large numbers of students and others have regularly mounted demonstrations against the dictatorship of the ayatollahs and where pro-American sentiment is nearly universal among the people. From an American view the ayatollahs have two more strikes against them: they are on the verge of obtaining nuclear missiles; and they are feeding anti-democratic terrorist operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But there is still no evidence the U.S. is mounting a credible military threat against the regime in Tehran to match all the rhetoric. In Lebanon the retreating Syrian occupying forces and their unretreating Hezbollah allies (who command substantial loyalties among Lebanon's radicalized Shia population as Zarkawi's terrorists do among the radicalized Sunnis in Iraq) are still planning their reaction. It remains to be seen whether the confrontation will end with Bashir Assad and his cronies flying to peaceful exile in some country like Paraguay or in a new Lebanese civil war. If the latter I don't think the Bush administration would have any choice but to muck in. As David Frum put it on his blog this week We need to be steadfast and optimistic -- both when the Lebanese are turning out in their thousands to demand their freedom, and also when the bombs start going off. Across the West there has been in recent weeks an unusual outburst of pro-Bush sentiment in the form of mea culpas from many on the Left. The high point was a banner headline in London's daily Independent newspaper -- the anti-American choir leader among British broadsheets and home of the infinitely irritating and often "factually challenged" Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk -- on Tuesday. It asked Was Bush right after all? All these spontaneous freedom rallies have shaken the faith of the Left for the moment. But I would expect that as in the past their faith will be quickly restored and President Bush put back on his rhetorical throne as the lord of misrule once the bullets and bombs resume flying. Nevertheless we are ratcheting forward. At each important turning of events a few more switch to the side of the angels and cumulative progress is made towards a triumph for human freedom. It is war down here on this planet; it always has been between freedom and tyranny. Freedom has never been cheaply purchased. But at the moment I'm convinced we are winning that war. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
|
Top