Newsweek’s cover story is about the wave of (at least potential) reform taking place in the Middle East. Note how the cover says “People Power”, but the feature article by Fareed Zakaria is entitled “What Bush Got Right”. In fairness, the cover has a subtitle which includes "Where Bush Was Right". Nonetheless, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall for that Newsweek editorial decision.

Zakaria’s article notes that Bush has been “vindicated” is largely positive of developments across the Middle East:

“Across New York, Los Angeles and Chicago—and probably Europe and Asia as well—people are nervously asking themselves a question: "Could he possibly have been right?" The short answer is yes. Whether or not Bush deserves credit for everything that is happening in the Middle East, he has been fundamentally right about some big things.”

Bush never accepted the view that Islamic terrorism had its roots in religion or culture or the Arab-Israeli conflict. [The last thesis is one that many on the Left still uphold – ed]. Instead he veered toward the analysis that the region was breeding terror because it had developed deep dysfunctions caused by decades of repression and an almost total lack of political, economic and social modernization. The Arab world, in this analysis, was almost unique in that over the past three decades it had become increasingly unfree, even as the rest of the world was opening up. His solution, therefore, was to push for reform in these lands.

Zakaria’s article has the obligatory Bush-bashing. (One can imagine concerned Newseek editors muttering, “We can’t have a story that makes Bush look consistent and correct and the rest of us look like idiots”):

"The pointless snubbing of allies, the brusque manner in which it went to war in Iraq, the undermanned occupation and the stubborn insistence (until last summer) in pursuing policies that were fueling both an insurgency and anti-Americanism in Iraq… "

By the “pointless snubbing of allies”, one can only assume Zakaria means France and Germany. The blogosphere, as well as the actual events in the Middle East that Zakaria is writing about, provide zillions of reasons why the words “pointless” and “snubbing” are rather out of place here. Had Bush not “pointlessly snubbed” Chirac and Schroeder (both of whom were adamantly opposed to liberating Iraq), Saddam would still be in power, and the events now taking place in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian areas would not be taking place.

PS: Note the hot Lebanese chick on the Newsweek cover. What in the heck is going on here? Is there something in Lebanon's water supply?

Update (3/15/05): More evidence found