Whatever Happened to the Cedar Revolution?

Foreign policy is not something most of us comment about on this blog but this morning while watching CNN report on the upcoming civil war in Lebanon; I couldn’t help but remember back to 2005 and fell the urge to comment on how reality has intruded on the dreams of some people. At that time things looked so much better in Lebanon and in the White House too. Here’s what the New York Sun Editorial Board said

For those who have been invested for years in the long struggle to drive Syria out of Lebanon, the turn events have taken there since the Lebanese people have taken to the streets is extraordinarily encouraging. The left, the press, and even some skeptical Bush administration bureaucrats mocked the idea that the liberation of Iraq would inspire democratic revolutions elsewhere in the Middle East.

Then there was neo-conservative Charles Krauthammer celebrating the success of the Bush policies

That America, using power harnessed to democratic ideals, could begin a transformation of the Arab world from endless tyranny and intolerance to decent governance and democratization. Two years ago, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, I argued in these pages that forcefully deposing Saddam Hussein was, more than anything, about America "coming ashore" to effect a "pan-Arab reformation"–a dangerous, "risky and, yes, arrogant" but necessary attempt to change the very culture of the Middle East, to open its doors to democracy and modernity. The Administration went ahead with this great project knowing it would be hostage to history. History has begun to speak. Elections in Afghanistan, a historic first. Elections in Iraq, a historic first. Free Palestinian elections producing a moderate leadership, two historic firsts. Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia, men only, but still a first. In Egypt, demonstrations for democracy–unheard of in decades–prompting the dictator to announce free contested presidential elections, a historic first. And now, of course, the most romantic flowering of the spirit America went into the region to foster: the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, in which unarmed civilians, Christian and Muslim alike, brought down the puppet government installed by Syria.

And here’s Michael Ledeen, the leading proponent of the idea that invading Iran will be even more of a cakewalk than Iraq was –

In like manner, the defeats of the fanatics in Afghanistan and Iraq, followed by free elections in both countries, destroyed two myths: of the inevitability of tyranny in the Muslim world, and of the divinely guaranteed success of the jihad. Once those myths were shattered, others in the region lost their fear of the tyrants, and they are now risking a direct challenge. The Cedar Revolution in Beirut has now toppled Syria's puppets in Lebanon, and I will be surprised and disappointed if we do not start hearing from democratic revolutionaries inside Syria — echoed from their counterparts in Iran — in the near future.

Kathryn Lopez in National Review joined in the victory celebration

The Bush Doctrine has set a bit of a wildfire of freedom in the Middle East region. In elections this weekend in Lebanon we saw Lebanese continue to fight back against Syria (albeit in complicated alliances) in yet another step in what's been dubbed a Cedar Revolution.

And finally, the New York Post’s favorite Iranian – Amir Taheri

Since the liberation of Iraq, those interested in seeing the Middle East brought into the democratic mainstream have been asking: Who's next? For the past two weeks the answer has come from Lebanon, where, enraged by the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, hundreds of thousands of people have poured into the streets to defy a discredited regime installed and maintained by Syrian military power.

Uncategorized