WERE THE NEO-CONS RIGHT, AFTER ALL?

Here is a round-up of posts about the situation going on right now in Lebanon. You may also have read about what is happening in Egypt. So, what is it all about?

The much maligned neo-cons had a theory about the war on terrorism. It went like this;

1. You can't win the war by hunting down and capturing or killing terrorists one at a time. There are too many, too well entrenched in too many countries. As you capture and kill your way throughout their ranks, more are recruited into the fold.

2. Therefore, the only way to win is to "drain the swamp", that is, eliminate the breeding grounds for the terrorists. The best way to accomplish that is to provide an alternative to the millions of Arabs and Muslims who look to Bin Ladenism as a way of life for the future.

3. The alternative is freedom and prosperity.

4. The way to achieve freedom and prosperity for the Arabs is to knock down one of their most brutal home-grown dictators, Saddam Hussein. After all, we Americans (along with the British to some extent) were at least partly responsible for Hussein and his ilk taking power in Iraq, as well as many other despots in the region.

5. With Hussein gone, use the power of America to help the Iraqi people build a functioning democracy in their country. Once that is done, the rest of the Arabs will begin to wonder why, if the Iraqis can do it, they can't do it too.

President Bush accepted the neo-con theory and acted on it. Overthrowing Hussein was a relatively simple military matter. It took only about three weeks. Building Iraq into a functioning democracy has taken a lot longer, and is still far from complete. But what we see going on before us now as we enter March, 2005 is truly amazing. Clearly, a majority of the Iraqi people want democracy. They were willing to suffer death or maiming to go out and vote. Thousands of Iraqis continue to risk their lives every day serving their new country.

What is even more extraordinary is the way in which the rest of the Arabs are reacting to what is happening in Iraq. Demonstrators are coming out in the thousands to demand a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. Demonstrators are pushing President Mubarak in Egypt to make good on his recent promise to hold a real election in that country. The Palestinians have elected a new government which is struggling mightily to break the bonds of the past and make a real peace with Israel. Even the Saudis were forced to loosen things up a bit with local elections (even though they didn't include women). Some are likening all of this to what happened in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Sometimes, it takes a dramatic event to push the dominoes over. In 1989 it was when Mikhail Gorbachev announced the end to the Brezhnev Doctrine. When the people of Eastern Europe realized that Soviet tanks would not roll into their countries if they turned out their local Communist puppet governments, those governments fell like so many straw men. Perhaps we will look back on the events going on now in the Middle East and realize that it all began when a brutal tyrant was overthrown by the U.S. and it's allies, and the people of Iraq stepped forward and took control over their own government.

Were the neo-cons right, after all? It is looking like a better bet with each passing day.