http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7121415/
Pace of developments surprises even White House
ANALYSIS
By Peter Baker
A powerful confluence of events in the Middle East in recent weeks has infused President Bush's drive to spread democracy with a burst of momentum, according to supporters and critics alike, and the president now faces the challenge of figuring out how to capitalize on it in a region long resistant to change.
Successful elections in Iraq and the Palestinian territories in January have been followed by tentative changes in Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and a popular street uprising in Lebanon that toppled an unpopular government. With the encouragement of the American president, reformers across the region are applying escalating pressure on regimes to loosen their grip over autocratic societies.
The rapid pace of developments has surprised even Bush advisers and silenced or even converted some skeptics in Washington less than two months after the president opened his second term with an inaugural address setting the goal of "ending tyranny in our world." As he prepares to give another major speech today to mark the progress, Bush has been in a buoyant mood, aides said, seeing the recent moves as vindicating his expansive vision. "He feels validation," said one aide.
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‘Snowball effect’
"There is an element of snowball effect here," said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "There's now some momentum, and I think we . . . and democracies all around the world are now pushing this a little bit harder. There's a kind of virtuous cycle here, because with each success more and more people want to join, and secondly more people in the democratic world want to join the project."
The cascading images of democracy in the region have made these particularly heady days for Bush, who began talking about Middle East democracy in his first term with little evident success. Aides were thrilled with a Newsweek cover story on Lebanon's so-called Cedar Revolution headlined "People Power," followed by a secondary headline that said "Where Bush Was Right."
This is very scary stuff. I predict that in 15 years or so, the Middle East might rival South America for freedom.
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