The People's Aspirations

Report Urges Arab Governments to Share Power By Colum Lynch

The third [United Nations-sponsored] Arab Human Development Report embraced many themes espoused by President Bush in promoting democracy in the Middle East. The report, which was written by 39 Arab scholars and intellectuals, provided scarce credit to the United States for furthering democratic change through the overthrow of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

The report sharply criticized the U.S. invasion of Iraq and charged that the prosecution of the "war on terrorism" has curtailed freedoms in the Arab world. It said the Iraqi people have "emerged from the grip of a despotic regime" only to "fall under a foreign occupation that increased human suffering."

We've done a bad job, to be sure, but saying they've "emerged from the grip of a despotic regime" as if they've done that on their own is ridiculous. And if we withdrew from the occupation, Iraq would be a hell-hole. On the other hand,

The report presented a harsh assessment of Arab governments' efforts to stifle political freedom, saying political participation in the region has "often been little more than a ritual" and elections typically preserve the status of "ruling elites."

"By 21st century standards, Arab countries have not met the people's aspirations for development, security and liberation," the report stated. "Indeed, there is a near-complete consensus that there is a serious failing in the Arab world, and that this is located specifically in the political sphere."

Good for them. But then of course,

Mark Malloch Brown, the administrator of the U.N. Development Program, which commissioned the report, wrote in the foreword that the views expressed in the report "are not shared" by the United Nations.

I'd like to see a similar report on the Chinese Communist party's failure to serve its people's aspirations, but let's face it, they'd never allow it.