Success

We forecast mid-2004 that in the crucible of Iraq, US-led efforts to mold a consensual government would triumph and that the initial success at birthing democracy there would take most world observers by surprise.

It feels good to be right.

Feb/05 we noted: "Realists maintain that the Mid East is the least hospitable place in the world for a democracy. They are mistaken. What is true is that for the past 50 years a civilization gap has continued to widen between this region and so many other parts of the world. Arab countries have aped western ideas but sought to implement these through state power - capitalist dictatorships that don’t work. The inevitable decay and failure, the brutality of rule have together bred a growing yet sub-surface counterculture of resistance. It is this reservoir of internal pressure and agitation, before constrained or crushed by ruling thugs that now will be married to an enlightened US agenda, ultimately transforming the entire region."

Today, even Newsweek (bless their little left-leaning heart) celebrates this transformation in Iraq.

George Bush - due to your virtue, common sense and determination, millions who before lived under the heel owe you a great debt.

Robert Craven.