RULE MAURITANIA!:

U.S.-allied incumbent reported winner in Arab-dominated Mauritania (EDWARD HARRIS, November 8, 2003, Associated Press)

President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya's victory ensured that Mauritania -- a nation dominated by its Arab population -- will remain a rare ally in the region of both Israel and the United States. [...]

The country has never seen a peaceful and democratic transfer of power since independence from France in 1960. Taya himself seized control in a 1984 coup, overthrowing Haidalla, then a military dictator. [...]

Isolated as a supporter of Saddam in the Gulf War, Taya's administration shifted political alliances dramatically in the mid-1990s.

In 1999, Mauritania became one of only three countries in the Arab League to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.

That same year, Mauritania broke ties with Iraq, despite the common Baath Party membership of many Mauritania leaders and Saddam's regime.

Taya's government banned anti-U.S. rallies earlier in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and blocked what it claimed were fundamentalist attempts to use mosques to recruit fighters against the Untied States.

In Israel, Shalom Cohen, deputy director of the Middle East division at that country's Foreign Ministry, congratulated Taya on his proclaimed victory, calling him a "visionary and a courageous leader."

In the 22-nation Arab League, only Mauritania has kept full diplomatic relations with Israel during three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Every good example helps the cause.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 8, 2003 7:51 PM