American President George W. Bush envisaged a new Middle East, and by all appearances he may be getting his wish. The political landscape of the Middle East is changing, but not in the manner the president anticipated. Instead of American democracy leading the way, the Bush administration is struggling to prevent the region from falling into the grips of an Iranian-led Islamist theocracy.Thanks largely to Washington’s lack of coherent policy, such as its shortsightedness in Iraq and in allowing Israel to pursue its war on Lebanon as it tried to decapitate Hizbullah, Bush may have contributed to the problem rather than the solution. It was only when Israel contemplated a full-scale ground invasion of Lebanon – yet again – that the American president reached for the panic button, and asked the United Nations to seriously sue for a ceasefire. The president, much like his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, had
