political : WHAT EFFECT HAS THE BUSH NEOCON FOREIGN POLICY HAD ON THE ARAB WORLD? [+] serious ballot by cranky ACTIVE Sun Dec 03, 06 - Fri Aug 28, 09 Six years of Bush's foreign policy has had the presumably unintended consequences of elevating radicals and theocrats into positions of dominance throughout the region, from Iraq, Lebanon, the West Bank and even, this past week, to the oil emirate Bahrain, where Shiite and Sunni radical Islamists split elections in an upset. "It looks like our parliament will be dominated by people who see themselves only as Sunnis or Shiites," said Fowad Shihab, a political science professor at Bahrain University. "These are the same Islamists that are gaining control across the Arab world." Simply put, the neoconservative geniuses who believed invading Iraq would bolster both U.S. and Israeli interests in fact have accomplished the exact opposite — handing both military and public-relations victories to their sworn enemies. Similarly, the international movement to restrain the proliferation of nuclear weapons has been struck a possible death blow as a desperate United States may be forced to accommodate Iran's nuclear ambitions, just as it did those of Pakistan. On the other hand, if the Bush administration dares to move militarily against Iran, as it has an almost uncontrollable itch to do, we will become mired in a bloody conflict that will know no borders. Nobody knows this better than Bush's father, with his vast intelligence background, and that is precisely why he has dispatched Baker to corral the ever-impetuous Bush the Younger. It is hoped that old hands Baker and incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates can make the best of a terrible situation, which can and likely will get much worse if we "stay the course." The key is to eschew the presumption of our own nation's virtue in every situation and instead doggedly to pursue stability through pragmatic compromise in an inherently unstable world. * * * * * * * * What do you think? Has the Bush neocon foreign policy of the last six years democratized and stabilized the Arab world, or has it done just the opposite? The Arab world is more democratic and stable The Arab world is more theocratic and chaotic I'm a neocon. Iraq worked so well, lets do it in Iran! Ballot #106306 : SEE RESULTS Comment: show your vote with comment?

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