The Challenge

The Bush Presidency started off as a seemingly transitional one - one that was to be focused on domestic issues, with continued benign neglect and "soft" isolationism in the realm of foreign policy. But the events of 9/11 changed all of that and thrust onto Bush and the US the responsibility for the wholesale remaking of the world order. The place where this remaking has to occur is obviously the Arab Middle East. Reuel Marc Gerecht looks at the challenges in this endeavor. The long term goal is clearly the democratization of the Arab world, and on the way we must deal with Iran's attempts at nuclearization, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the jihad of bin Laden and his followers, and more immediately, Iraq. As many have noted, if we fail in Iraq, all other goals fall away and US foreign policy will have been set back at least a quarter of a century.