Bush Undoing What Good He has Done?

Has Bush reversed the pro-democratic and pro-western reform he brought about in north Africa? So says this AEI scholar, Jeffrey Azarva, in his assessment of the work that Bush has done over his two terms. This would be a great misfortune. It would seem to indicate doubt in the central Bush doctrine of the universality of the love of freedom. Further, it indicate a return to realism, the western policy that has allowed the fever swamps in the Middle East to fester its radical anti-westernism in the first place. Not good at all.

Here is the beginning of Azarva's piece:

On November 6, 2003, President George W. Bush proclaimed, "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe--because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty." This strategic shift, coupled with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, put regional governments on notice. The following spring, Tunisia's president, Zine El Abidine Bin Ali, and Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak--stalwart allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and two of North Africa's most pro-American rulers--were among the first Arab leaders to visit Washington and discuss reform. But with this "Arab spring" has come the inadvertent rise of Islamist movements throughout the region. Now, as U.S. policymakers ratchet down pressure, Egypt and Tunisia see a green light to backtrack on reform.

(ht: Michael Rubin on the Corner)