Lebanon's freedom isn't directly because of Bush's invasion

[ginnyinWI]

Rami Khouri, of the Daily Star (Lebanon) talked with Chris Bury on Nightline last night, and he takes a much longer view. He said that the Arab people have been working toward this for many years, even while the U.S. was supporting tyrants. He said the same ends could have been reached using diplomacy and the U.N., and would have avoided the bloodshed and huge cost in U.S. dollars. The U.S. could have used its considerable clout to call for changes in the governments of ME countries, because the people already wanted change.

He writes in his editorial:

"...It is clear now, though, that these are historic, important signs of established power structures being compelled to change by the force of will of their own people - people in the streets who risk imprisonment, retributive punishment, or even death by challenging and resisting their prevailing power elite. A threshold of fear has been crossed in all three cases.

At the same time, however, it is fair to acknowledge that the presence of the U.S. and other foreign forces in Iraq also certainly has played a role in focusing the minds of various Arab leaders on their need to change and modernize quickly - partly because of pressures from their own people as well as diplomatic and even military pressures from Western countries and the UN. The balance sheet of Arab political transformation due to indigenous demands or foreign pressures is rather even.

This is novel for this generation, but not new in a longer time frame.

History has always recorded such a joint venture and shared impetus for modernization from local and global actors. This has been going on since Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. was the first foreign general to lead his troops into the Middle East and reorder its political configuration to reflect the imperial power's own values and systems; the Islamic Arabs returned the favor when they moved into parts of southern Europe in the eighth century A.D. and ultimately sparked the European renaissance and the ages of science and enlightenment. History tends to advance through civilizational joint ventures, not solo raids."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&c...