THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 126, July 14, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE FIGHT FOR MIDEAST DEMOCRACY IS FALTERING
By Dr. Michael Rubin
THE MIDDLE EAST & UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY: PROMOTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN MIDDLE
EASTERN COUNTRIES -- WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE ANNOUNCED U.S. GOVERNMENT POLICY TO SEEK & SUPPORT THE
GROWTH OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS & INSTITUTIONS IN EVERY NATION & CULTURE, WITH THE
ULTIMATE GOAL OF ENDING TYRANNY IN THE WORLD?
FULL STORY:
"It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every
nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," U.S. President George W. Bush declared at his
second inauguration.
Government-controlled newspapers in the Arab world scoffed at the idea of constitutional democracy. Egypt's
Al-Ahram daily called it "worrying." The United Arab Emirates' Al-Bayan wrote that "the slogan of fighting
tyranny is just a pompous expression." Many Bush critics in the United States agreed.
Still, constitutional democracy took root in what many once dismissed as infertile ground. Lebanon's Cedar Revolution
drove out the Syrian military occupation. Just a year ago, Lebanon's future looked bright. U.S. diplomatic pressure forced
Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to hold his first contested presidential election. That constitutional democracy came to
Iraq through war may be unpopular, but it does not cancel the fact that Iraqis went to the polls three times, twice to pick a
leader and once to ratify a constitution.
Dissent grew bold. Libyan democracy activist Fathi El-Jahmi publicly challenged Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi to
hold elections. Rola Dashti campaigned tirelessly for women's suffrage in Kuwait. Jordanian columnist Salameh Nematt
took the call for constitutional democracy a step further when, on November 25, 2004, he called on all Arab states to
embrace constitutional democracy. "It is outrageous and amazing that the first free and general elections in the history of
the Arab nation are to take place... in Iraq, under the auspices of American occupation, and in Palestine, under the
auspices of the Israeli occupation," he wrote in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.
Dissent in the Middle East was no cakewalk. Gadhafi threw El-Jahmi in prison. Both Dashti and Nematt received death
threats. An Egyptian court sentenced activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim for his writings about human rights and democracy. But,
even as they challenged entrenched leaders, dissidents could count on Washington as an ally. President Bush defied
diplomatic convention and withheld $130 million in aid until Egypt released Ibrahim. U.S. Senators lobbied for El-Jahmi's
release. The U.S. State Department chastised Iran's treatment of its imprisoned civil society activists, and condemned the
murder of Lebanese journalists.
No longer. Where, just last year, the White House condemned the murder of Lebanese writers, it now remains silent as
Libyan security agents kidnap and kill journalists. Hezbollah might not have sparked the latest violence had Washington
kept up pressure for its disarmament. El-Jahmi is back in prison. At the Palestinian Authority's request, the State
Department banned liberal Palestinian activist Issam Abu Issa from the United States after he blew the whistle on
corruption.
Not only adversaries get a free pass. In the face of Bush's reversal, U.S. allies who once considered reform now abandon it.
Take Mubarak: In recent months, his regime has imprisoned the opposition candidate, an arson attack has destroyed the
opposition headquarters, Mubarak has canceled municipal elections, and his security forces have arrested judges who
dared to complain. Last week, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- who wields absolute power over Yemen -- reversed
his decision to step down and now says he will run again. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali -- who won his last
election with more than 94 percent of the vote -- has waged a wholesale assault on independent civil society. In the midst
of a crackdown on Tunisian journalists and bloggers, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Tunis to meet
Ben Ali. Many Tunisians compare the photo of the meeting to Rumsfeld's 1983 handshake with Saddam Hussein. Iraqi
Kurdish leader Masud Barzani now casts constitutional democracy aside as he builds a personality cult and transforms
Iraqi Kurdistan into his own personal fiefdom. Even as regards democratic Turkey, the White House remains silent as
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuses to implement Turkish Supreme Court rulings that say he has overstepped
his power.
That Bush betrays his rhetoric is tragic. While he once spoke of freedom, he now courts those who oppose it. Fighting
terror and supporting reform need not be mutually exclusive. Last year Bush promised, "America will stand with the
people that desire a free and democratic Iraq." Now his administration talks of withdrawal, leaving those who put their
lives on the line for constitutional democracy to wither. Just as his father once called on Iraqis to stand up and fight
dictatorship, only to abandon them to Saddam's gunships, so too does George W. Bush now abandon Arab
freedom-seekers, only on a much larger scale and with far more dire consequences for both Middle Eastern democracy
and U.S. credibility.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
The Middle East -- Lebanon as a Geopolitical Problem
The Middle East & the Problem of Syria
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
North Africa -- The Arab States of Islamic North Africa
Tunisia, Islamic North Africa, & the Arab World
Egypt, Arabs, & the Middle East
Turkey, the Middle East, & the U.S.A.
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY & OTHER POLITICAL REGIMES
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Fundamental Character & Essential Ingredients
Constitutionalism: The First Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Dictatorship: The Opposite of Constitutionalism
Representative Democracy: The Second Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Direct Democracy & Representative Democracy
Political Culture & Modern Constitutional Democracy
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Summary & Conclusion
Dr. Michael Rubin, a Ph.D. in History (Yale University) and a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, Islamic culture and Islamist
ideology, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. Dr Rubin is author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, 2001) and is co-author, with Dr. Patrick Clawson, of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005). Dr. Rubin served as political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004); staff
advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (2002-2004); visiting lecturer in the Departments of
History and International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001-2002); visiting lecturer at the Universities of
Sulaymani, Salahuddin, and Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan (2000-2001); Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy (1999-2000); and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Yale University (1999-2000). He has been a fellow at
the Council of Foreign Relations, the Leonard Davis Institute at Hebrew University, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs.
The foregoing article by Michael Rubin was originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 14, 2006, and can be
found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
July 14, 2006
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