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Mideast poised for 'real advances,' Jordan's king says (MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA, June 10, 2005, Chicago Sun-Times)

In his second visit to Chicago in a year, Jordan's King Abdullah II Thursday heralded recent reforms in the Middle East, from the cease-fire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to January's landmark Iraqi elections. [...]

"In the past few years, the West has paid a great deal of attention to reform in the Middle East. Most Arabs agree that we must move forward. Our world is poised to make real advances," Abdullah said. "But to do so, we need to connect our policy goals to practical mechanisms. Change is not easy, especially when it upends decades of division." [...]

He told an audience of students and faculty there is no turning back from the move toward democracy in a region grappling with political change and instability -- from Lebanon, where widespread protests led to the resignation of the Syrian-backed government, to Saudi Arabia, which recently held its first nationwide elections for local councils, to Jordan, which he said is taking the lead in reforms in areas including education, human rights and press freedom. [...]

The king took only a handful of questions from the audience, asserting in his responses that while President Bush's democratization efforts in Iraq inspired regional reforms, those reforms must be led from within and not by America.

How about giving the same speech in each of your Arab neighbors?

MORE:
Task Force: US Support for Arab Reform Critical to Winning War on Terror (Meredith Buel, 09 June 2005, VOA News)

A report from a task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations says U.S. support for democratic reform in the Arab world is critical to winning the war on terrorism and repairing America's image in the Middle East.

The task force report says the Middle East will be a central focus of U.S. foreign policy for the next generation and beyond, and that Washington has the opportunity to help shape a more democratic region.

A co-chair of the task force, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, says the group generally supports the Bush administration's efforts to persuade Arab governments to accept democratic reforms.

"Support for democracy is an important tool in counter-terrorism and working in that particular way," she said. "We also believe that the best stability is actually democratic stability. Finally, support for democracy, we believe, will help restore America's credibility in the Middle East region."

The task force says the United States should promote the development of democratic institutions over the long term, and that democracy cannot be imposed from the outside.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 10, 2005 11:39 AM