March 01, 2005

Discounting History

We live in startling times. Out of the horror of the Sep. 11 attacks we are seeing profound changes in the Middle East. Elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Lebanese want Syria out of their country, and real Egyptian elections signal something historic. Lebanese leader Walid Jumblatt describes this moment:

It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it.

Matthew Yglesias wraps his knee-jerk anti-Bushism in realist, almost conservative paper. On the Lebanese wanting to kick out Syria he writes,

[N]ear as I can tell, there's no really clear sense in which the Syrian sphere of influence in Lebanon is bad for the United States of America.

Syria isn't good for the region, for freedom, or for Israel's safety. Syria leaving Lebanon lessens their influence on the region. There's also evidence, I'm sure Matthew has examined, that democracy reduces war. Syria leaving Lebanon both weakens her and gives Lebanon the ability to strengthen her democracy.

But declaring this good news as good for the U.S. would only bolster the President's vision of freedom advancement in the nation's interest. Saying Bush's vision is correct would be too much to ask.

"Lebanon Second Thoughts"