OP-ED: Bush's Hollow "Promising" Middle East (Jerusalem Post, ISRAEL)

Two events earlier this month summed up differing views of George W. Bush's Middle East record.

In one, Bush himself offered a valedictory speech, declaring that "the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful and more promising place than it was in 2001." In the other, an Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, expressed disrespect and rejection by hurling shoes at Bush as the US president spoke in Baghdad, yelling at him: "This is a farewell kiss! Dog! Dog!" Ironically, Zaidi's very impudence confirmed Bush's point about greater freedom; would he have dared to throw shoes at Saddam Hussein?

While I like and think well of Bush, I have criticized his response to radical Islam since 2001, his Arab-Israeli policy since 2002, his Iraq policy since 2003 and his democracy policy since 2005. In both 2007 and 2008, I critiqued the shortcomings of his overall Middle East efforts.

Today, I take issue with his claim that the Middle East is more hopeful and more promising than in 2001. Consider some of the ways things have degenerated:

• Iran has nearly built nuclear weapons and appears to be planning for a devastating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States.

• Pakistan is on its way to becoming a nuclear-armed, Islamist rogue state.

• The price of oil reached an all-time high, only to collapse due to a US-led recession.

• Turkey went from being a stalwart ally to the most anti-American country in the world.

• Iraq remains an albatross (or a pair of shoes?) around America's neck, incurring expenses, fatalities and with an immense potential for danger.

• Rejection of Israel's existence as a Jewish state has become more widespread and virulent.

• Russia has reemerged as a hostile force in the region.

• Democratic efforts have collapsed (Egypt), increased Islamist influence (Lebanon) or paved the way for Islamists to attain power (Gaza).

• The doctrine of preemption has been discredited.

Bush's two successes, an Iraq without Saddam Hussein and a Libya without WMD, hardly balance out these failures.

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