New Book Urges Continued U.S. Role in Promoting Democracy in the Arab World | Voice of America - English
After the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, many U.S. policy experts concluded that an important factor in the rise of violent Muslim fundamentalism was the lack of democracy and political freedom in the Arab world.  This notion ? spelled out in what President Bush calls his Freedom Agenda ? has made the promotion of democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere a critical element of U.S. national security.  Now, as Americans prepare for a change in leadership, a new book by a veteran Mideast policy analyst urges the next U.S.
Withhis time in the White House drawing to a close, President Bush used a recentWashington address to urge his successor to continue his agenda of promotingfreedom and spreading democracy throughout the world. "Thechallenge for America in the years ahead," Bush said, "is to continueto help people in struggling nations achieve freedom from corruption, freedomfrom disease, freedom from poverty, freedom from hunger and freedom fromtyranny. Combating hopelessness is in America's security interest because theonly way our enemies can recruit people to their dark ideology is to exploitdistress and despair." Promotingfreedom and democracy in the world is a goal any U.S. president wouldsupport.But the next occupant of theWhite House will want to distance himself from some of the BushAdministration's more controversial democratization efforts. "Theidea of the Freedom Agenda is so closely associated with President Bush that interms of American domestic politics, there is no political incentive to make ita major agenda item for either of the presidential candidates right now,"says Tamara Cofman Wittes, director of the Middle East Democracy andDevelopment Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Wittessays both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain "are trying todefine themselves as independent thinkers and as people who will create a newlegacy and not simply continue the legacy of the current president." Wittesnotes that both candidates have said they believe democracy promotion is inAmerica's national interest. Both men have backed increased congressionalfunding for the National Endowment for Democracy ? a non-profit organizationthat supports pro-democracy groups around the world. They've also pledged topay close attention to human rights concerns. Inher new book, , Wittes argues that whatever difficulties and setbacks the BushAdministration has encountered in promoting democracy in the Middle East, thenext president must find new and better ways to achieve the same goal. "Althoughthe Bush administration went about democracy promotion in a way that in certainways was counterproductive," Wittes says, "that it does not mean itwas the wrong idea."She contends"in order to build a solid foundation for U.S.-Arab cooperation, the nextAmerican president needs to care about and support democratic growth in theArab world." ButWittes advises the new U.S. president to de-link democracy promotion from theso-called war on terror, because, she says, it was inappropriate in the firstplace to consider pro-democracy initiatives as a strategy for combatingterrorism. Shebelieves the new President must start treating freedom promotion as a strategicimperative all its own."Even ifthe Arab-Israeli conflict is resolved, even if Iraq is stabilized and Americantroops leave, the U.S is still going to care very much what happens in theMiddle East," she says. "We want to have strong U.S.-Arab relationsand we want to have a positive role in the region and it is very hard to dothat when citizens of the region themselves feel as though they are being leftout of the planning for their future." In , author Tamara Cofman Wittes concludes that the UnitedStates can't afford to assume a more passive or neutral role in the MiddleEast, despite political pressures to do so.Instead, she says, the U.S. must wield its power and influence moreeffectively ? to support real, home-grown democratic movements in the Arabworld.