Beirut's Berlin Wall

Reposted as history. Originally posted in February of 2005.


By David Ignatius - Wednesday February 23, 2005 - Washington Post

.... Walid Jumblatt, the patriarch of the Druze Muslim community and, until recently, a man who accommodated Syria's occupation. But something snapped for Jumblatt last year, when the Syrians overruled the Lebanese constitution and forced the reelection of their front man in Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud. The old slogans about Arab nationalism turned to ashes in Jumblatt's mouth, and he and Hariri openly began to defy Damascus.
......
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

It is truly interesting watching what is happening in the middle east. It is even more interesting watching what is NOT happening in the democratic party. They have still not accepted that the war in Iraq was the right move. Long term the only thing that had any hope of limiting the islamofascists in the middle east, was completely changing the dynamic. The democrats laughed at the possibility, and claimed that Bush and the neo-cons who were proposing that were simlply cynical liars. Now that it is happening, the democrats cannot even concede they were wrong.

[2-26-2005 - Footnote to this article - Hillary Clinton's new move to embrace the war in Iraq and her travels to Iraq to proclaim the victory are amusing. She is the frist democrat to see the consequence of the democrats not getting on board. It is also an indication of how clear it is becoming; WE ARE WINNING! Hillary wants to take credit.]