Detailing the Administration's unsung victories on the Middle East, Victor Davis Hanson makes an observation so true and brilliant it ought to be etched in stone and prominently displayed in newsrooms, universities and on Capitol Hill:

As a rule of thumb in matters of the Middle East, be very skeptical of anything that Europe (fearful of terrorists, eager for profits, tired of Jews, scared of their own growing Islamic minorities) and the Arab League (a synonym for the autocratic rule of Sunni Muslim grandees and secular despots) cook up together. If a EU president, a Saudi royal, and a Middle East specialist in the State Department or a professor in an endowed Middle Eastern Studies chair agree that the United States is "woefully naive," "unnecessarily provocative" or "acting unilaterally," then assume that we are pretty much on the right side of history and promoting democratic reform. "Sobriety" and "working with Arab moderates" is diplo—speak for supporting or abetting an illiberal hierarchy. 

Clarice Feldman  2 18 05