Michael Young: "Welcome a second Bush term, for the Arabs’ sake"

This accelerates the spin to astronomical RPM. Young is Opinion Editor at the "Daily Star," Lebanon's English language daily.

... Without an economic beef to feed off of, Howard Dean, for the moment Bush’s main potential challenger, will be less able to ride the anti-war feeling that has carried him to the front of the Democratic pack.

A Bush victory will be good news for Iraq, and quite possibly for the Middle East. There are those who, legitimately, lambaste the administration for its shoddy, one-sided management of Israeli-Palestinian talks. However, the greater Bush’s success in Iraq, particularly on democratization, the wider will be his margin of maneuver vis-a-vis pro-Israel Protestant groups that form an essential part of his electorate. A second Bush term may offer less smoke on the Palestinians and more reasonable solutions approximating the unofficial, yet potent, Geneva accord.

One can already hear the lamentations of Arabs ready to expire at the prospect of a Bush victory. Overcome by the vapors of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many cannot see that democracy in Iraq, if it works, will more blatantly highlight Israel’s high-handed subjugation of the Palestinians. Nor can they grasp that with Iraq a successful US showcase, Israel’s weight is likely to wane, since the US will have a major alternative regional interest. That’s why the US must prevail in Iraq, if only for the Arabs’ sake.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/06_11_03_c.asp