"Iraqi democracy will succeed -- and that success will send forth the news, from Damascus to Tehran -- that freedom can be the future of every nation," and "The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution."

He said little of how and why Iraqi democracy will succeed, yet he managed to admonish Iran, Syria and the Palestinian Authority while having much gentler words for Egypt and for Saudi Arabia. He did not condemn Russian human rights abuses against Muslims in Chechnya. It was more a political speech against problem countries as perceived by the administration than an honest plan to promote democracy for Muslims around the world. Why else would he pick on Iran, arguably the most democratic Muslim country in the Middle East and on the Palestinian Authority, who has had real elections for president, albeit a president of whom we do not approve?  It sounded like business as usual but with a democratic sugar coating. It is as if the Administration has overlooked the fact that Muslims are increasingly educated and informed. The Bush Administration may have forgotten our miserable track record for supporting and promoting democracy in the Middle East, but Middle Easterners who have suffered the consequences have not.

 

Hossein Askari is Iran Professor of International Business and Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University and the author of Saudi Arabia: Oil and the Search for Economic Development and, more recently, co-author of Economic Sanctions: Examining Their Philosophy and Efficacy.