Burgeoning Democratic reform busting out all over the place...

I used that term yesterday and thought it was cute enough to warrant a post of it's own. So here we are.

Charles Krauthammer writes a piece in Time this week, that unlike David Brooks' commentary from yesterday, is more than willing to cheer the Bush Administration. It is yet another piece that we can file under 'W' for "What if Bush was right?"

Krauthammer spends a good amount of time blasting the naysayer's latest argument that Bush's policy decisions aren't the source of this new push for Democratization in the Middle East. What I loved most about it, was how he took an argument I've heard literally dozens of times (as criticism of W) about Bush I's "abandonment" of the would-be Shi'ite uprising in 1991, and demonstrate that it proves the naysayer's "people power" argument false.

In the 1991 uprising, tens of thousands of Shi'ites and Kurds were killed by the raw power of Saddam's helicopters and tanks and secret police. What was different this time? No Saddam. The American army had come ashore to disarm and depose him. After the sword, it provided the shield to allow 8 million Iraqis to revel in their first exercise of democratic self-governance.

The logical conclusion? People power follows American power. The example: Shi'ites encouraged to rise up (people power) were slaughtered when they received no tangible help (American power) in accomplishing their goal. Activists in the Middle East, like Walid Jamblatt, put the nail in the coffin of the entire argument when they point directly to the US invasion of Iraq as the impetus for their current actions.

Like I said, burgeoning Democratic reform busting out all over the place.

P. S. Check this in today's NY Times as well. Yet another "What if he's right," piece. Though the author insists on hedging with language like, "some perhaps related and others probably not - have brought Mr. Bush a measure of vindication, which may or may not be sustained by events and his own actions in the months to come."