Waste of Time

Officials have touted Condoleeza Rice's current tour of the Middle East as an attempt to reach out to moderate Middle Eastern leaders, including Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, etc. First, its telling who are considered the moderate Middle Eastern leaders, the Wahhabist Kings of Saudi Arabia indeed seem very moderate. Why don't we just call it what it is, a meeting with the: unelected, autocratic, population alienating, politically unimportant, nepotistic rulers of the Middle East. Some time ago Rice gave a promising speech at the American University of Cairo during which she stated, "for 60 years, the United States pursued stability at the expense of democracy in the Middle East and we achieved neither." Unfortunately, this Administration has not had the courage to stand up for the lofty rhetoric of the Secretary of State. Now on this Middle Eastern tour she is meeting with either those exact persons responsible for the stability that came at the expense of democracy, or their offspring.

I am pessimistic that anything of consequence will come out of this tour, at most it seems to be more intended to provide the illusion of action. If this Administration was serious about true reform it would be meeting with those authorities that actually have power to change the public's perceptions or have a hand in the current climate: Hamas, Syria, Iran and reform-minded Egyptians. Without engaging these players it will be impossible to have any real progress in the region. It seems the administration has taken a view that it should just ignore all those that truly matter and hope that the situation goes away. I am relatively confident that if any progress is made, it will not be as a result of American influence or efforts, at least not until 2008.