The March of Liberty In The Middle East

Freedom is a powerful thing.

The anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday (see below) highlight how the American invasion of Iraq is serving as a catalyst for change in the region. While it is still too early to claim success, particularly in the face of continued resistance from other western democracies and the intelligentsia of the left, the minds of middle east people are clearly beginning to open to new possibilities. The linked WP column by David Ignatius requires registration (go to bugmenot.com), so I'll pull the most pertinent paragraph:

"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "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." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

Interesting that Mr. Jumblatt, the leader of the Lebanese protests, compares the events in Syria and the greater Middle East to the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the prior case, leftists all over the world resisted President Reagan's muscular anti-communist policies and instead promoted a policy of appeasement and accommodation.

This position was represented by that greatest of appeasement fetishists, Jimmy Carter, who in 1977 lectured Americans about our "inordinate fear of communism". I wonder how that phrase sounded to those being held in the Siberian gulags. The lesson that conservatives took from the anti-communist success, was that people will put their lives on the line for freedom if America will stand with them in the fight. Quoting W from his recent State of The Union:

"America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

The point is, words mean things. The previous occupant of the Oval office never fully understood this. President Clinton was always quite eloquent, but his words were empty vessels that took the country nowhere. Our enemies began to understand this and attacked the World Trade Center, our embassies in Africa, our military bases and they were met with hollow, ineffectual responses. They became more emboldened and 9/11 was the inevitable result of weak foreign policy and a complacent American populace.

How could we expect oppressed people to fight back when we, the most powerful country in the world, appeared to cower in the face of Islamic extremism? President Bush, ironically the most ineloquent president any of us have ever heard, has sent a very clear message to the people of the Middle East. That message is that 9/11 changed things for America. We understand that we cannot sit idly by while millions of Arab lives are lost to poor education, poverty and totalitarianism. We realize once again, that as with Eastern Europe, our job is to stand with the people of the Middle East, support them and bring our western allies along on the ride.

UPDATE: A decent overview of recent Syrian history can be found here. Funny how a car accident can change history. I remember at the time wondering if this was trully an accident. Via Vodkapundit.

UPDATE II: Roger Simon reports that anti-Syrian protests are planned by the Lebanese community in LA for Saturday, and some may apparently be underway already.