Bush Failure On All Fronts: Democracy Declines In Middle East
"Three years ago, just before the Iraq offensive, George Bush announced his ambition to "spread democratic values" to the Middle East. A new regime in Baghdad would serve as a "powerful example of freedom for the other nations in the region." ... But three years after Bush's announcement, the dynamism seems to be arrested. Iraq is courting chaos and regimes are hardening up. Egypt has reinstated a state of emergency first established in 1981 .. Syria snaps up writers and re-establishes itself in Lebanon. In Saudi Arabia, the palace has specified that a constitutional monarchy is not on the program."