Now, if liberty and democracy were valiantly defended in 1947, why were the Greeks not able to enjoy freeelections for the next thirty years? Was it remotely because of the colonels that several Americanadministrations staunchly supported until finally the Greeks themselves managed to get out from under theiroppression? Such questions do not occur to him, to his speech writer, or to his close advisers who provide himall the "objective" information he needs.
Turning to the Middle East, no one doubts that the present Arab states, from Morocco to Iraq, and Iran do nothave democratic governments. The Arabs have long talked about it but nary a whisper was heard from the WhiteHouse. The report -- "Arab Human Development Report 2003" -- that President Bush cites tobuild his case was prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, and not the National Endowment forDemocracy where he spoke. And it was not the first statement of the kind; Arabic newspapers and journalpublished in Europe and in Kuwait (before 1991) have been saying similar things for some time. They areignored by President Bush, just as he ignores the al-Jazeerah satellite TV, only because they have also beenhighly critical of policies and actions of the United States.
President Bush's comments are based on the history of the region over the past sixty years. It is only forthose years that he puts the responsibility on the Western nations. "Sixty years of Western nationsexcusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe, because in thelong run stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty." The myopic and self-serving spiritthat permeates the key portions of his speech is fully evident in this one sentence. History for him begins in1943 (the year FDR met with King Ibn Saud and obtained exclusive rights to Arabian oil); the Western nationshave been neglectful but indulgent parents, and bad results have followed only for "us", andnot the Middle Eastern nations. His advice to the latter is to stop "dwelling on past wrongs and blamingothers". To get a sense of what President Bush ignores or distorts as he mendaciously blames the victims,we need only to examine what actually took place in Iran and Iraq during the colonial and the cold warperiods.