FREEDOM ISN'T THE OBJECTIVE, LIBERTY IS:

Turkish Elections Put US Doctrine to Test (Gerard Baker, 8/17/07, Real Clear Politics)

It is certainly a conundrum of America's laudable foreign policy objective of democracy promotion that electorates sometimes freely vote for parties whose goals are distinctly inimical to US foreign policy objectives. In the last five years, as revolutionary forces have swept the Middle East, voters have repaid the West for its liberating strife by electing, in the Palestinian Authority and even in Iraq, Islamic extremists who would, given their druthers, happily extinguish the freedoms those voters have been exercising.

And yet, for all its perils, President George Bush is surely right to insist on the primacy of freedom. Even if we don't like sometimes what it produces in the short-term, history suggests it is still the surest route to long-term political stability and peace.

An important test of the president's idealism is about to be conducted in Turkey, one of the few Muslim-majority countries in the world that is also a democracy. Too bad the US looks to be getting ready to fail it.

The premise is, of course, false. Islamist parties serve U.S. goals by their unique capacity to lead consensual and functional governments in the region.

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Iran builds a presence in Lebanon: Tehran has taken a key role helping reconstruct war-hit areas, in contrast to what Lebanese see as Beirut's indifference (Raed Rafei and Borzou Daragahi, August 17, 2007, Los Angeles Times)

Along the roadways of southern Lebanon, thousands of banners festoon street lights and utility poles. They feature a distinctive symbol, a red inscription from the center of Iran's flag, protectively swathing Lebanon's iconic green cedar.

The emblem belongs to the Iranian reconstruction organization. Its presence delivers a message that is not lost on critics of Iran's role here, nor supporters who have watched cratered roads filled in, damaged school walls resurrected and life return to some semblance of normalcy over the last year.

Other countries "have reconstructed everything: the schools, the buildings, the roads," said Nazim Khanafer, a 47-year-old building contractor in Ainata, a town ruined in the war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah a year ago. It is now being rebuilt with the help of Iran and other countries. "They have paid money to the people, unlike the government."

The reconstruction of Lebanon after last summer's war was meant to strengthen the U.S.-backed Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured in from U.S.-friendly Persian Gulf countries

Instead, as government officials acknowledge, the rebuilding effort in badly damaged areas of southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the Bekaa Valley has mostly highlighted the government's weakness.

NEWSFLASH: the government is the enemy of the Shi'a.

In Gaza, a lion's return brings hope: Hamas secured the stolen cub's release, a move that residents say underscores the security that has come with the group's rule. (Louise Roug, August 17, 2007, LA Times)

In the grubby little zoo outside Gaza City, a man gave a thumbs up to a lion in a cage.

"Welcome back," he said, as his children beamed at the animal.

Sabrina had been snatched from her cage two years earlier, and the young cub had become a symbol of the lawlessness that characterized the Gaza Strip. But last month, Hamas forces freed Sabrina from a notorious criminal gang.

To many Gazans, Sabrina's release is a vivid example of how security has improved since the Islamic militant group Hamas routed Fatah forces to take control of the Gaza Strip.

Which is why Hamas won the elections.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 17, 2007 6:21 AM