Item from Amb. Marc Ginsberg over at The Huffington Post.
George Bush's magical mystery tour of the Middle East found him inside the insanely opulent Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi Sunday where he delivered his much-anticipated "I Have a Mirage" speech (you gotta see that hotel to believe it!).
Billed as an effort to take his Middle East "Freedom Agenda" off of life support and convince his Middle East audience that democracy is the true path to paradise on earth, Bush could not help but transform what was supposed to be an "uplifting" address into a dire warning that Iran constituted the biggest threat to the Arab world.
Mixing the threat of Iran with a call on Arabs to embrace democracy has a certain oil vs. water quality to it. The problem (like so many ways of the region that remain impenetrably mysterious to this White House) is that most Arabs believe that Bush, rather than Ahmadenijad, or even Bin Laden, is the greatest threat to Middle East peace.
Most Arabs don't understand how Bush can expect to coax them into some sort of an anti-Iran alliance when our National Intelligence Estimate on Iran -- widely disseminated throughout the Arab world -- appeared to discredit Iran as a nuclear threat. And, not to forget, most Arabs do not consider themselves victims of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism (and don't also seem to care one iota that that their fellow Muslims in Iraq, or Lebanon happen to be targeted by Iran's mullahs). As long as those Revolutionary Guards are instigating terror against Israel, well, that's none of their business, I guess. . . .
Arabs have long become accustomed to hearing Bush and Rice pontificate about democracy in the Middle East. But to most Arabs, Exhibit #1 of America's neocon-noble attempt at democracy happened to sadly descend into the carnage that has wracked Iraq since 2003, and like quicksand before an oasis, Arabs are quick to exclaim "laa shukran" (no thanks).
Indeed, the sad commentary is that any Arab that has been seen embracing American democracy assistance has found him or herself victimized, ostracized, and publicly ridiculed due to Bush's low standing even among moderate Arabs (yes, my friends, there are tens of millions of moderate Arabs who yearn for more open, just societies).
If we could only find a way to galvanize them into a real force for change against extremism. . . .
It will take a new president with the credibility of not being this president, to restore some faith and confidence in America's word in the Middle East. . . .
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