No Room for Openness

If 2003 was a year when, realistically or not, there was hope for liberalism in the Middle East, this past year was most certainly one in which that hope collapsed. Initial optimism that a capitalist culture of free markets and free minds might emerge from the fall of the despotic regime of Saddam Hussein has been replaced by deep pessimism. The region is retreating toward its extremes, leaving little room for open societies. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this phenomenon is the performance of supposed Arab liberals. That the United States approached its invasion of Iraq in the most unconvincing of ways, that it never quite understood what it needed to do to stabilize the country after its triumph, is undeniable; however, the moment that Saddam’s savage regime fell, it was a rare occasion that liberals should have used in their own struggle against the dictators repressing them. Instead,