[JulieSmithdccd]

The Bush administration's argument was that if the people of the Middle East don't have political freedom then Arab youth will be pushed into mosques where they are readily recruited by Al Qaeda One of the reasons for the Iraq War was the hope that Democracy in Iraq would encourage other Arab countries to overthrow their dictatorial regimes and embrace freedom.

Let's hope all the unrest in the Arab world results in greater freedom for the Arab people. Freedom would be the worst possible enemy for groups like Al Qaeda.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...sh-era-sparks/

In Arab Revolutions, Obama Administration Deals With Bush-Era Sparks

By Jennifer Griffin

Published January 27, 2011
| FoxNews.com

The revolution may have started in Tunisia where ongoing protests forced the country's foreign minister to step down Thursday. It then spread to Egypt on Tuesday, taking aim at the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

And now it has migrated to Yemen, where tens of thousands of anti-government protesters demanded Thursday that another U.S. ally step down: Yemen's president, who has held power for 32 years.

But the spark for this wave of revolutions may have started during the Bush administration when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a seminal speech at the American University in Cairo:

"For 60 years, the United States pursued stability at the expense of democracy in the Middle East -- and we achieved neither," Rice argued during her 2005 speech which came across as a direct challenge to the Mubarak regime, a regime that receives billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid, the second highest after Israel.

"Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people."

The Bush administration's argument was that if the people of the Middle East don't have political freedom then Arab youth will be pushed into mosques where they are readily recruited by Al Qaeda.

[JanetMorris]

Interesting point made by a CNBC analyst on this point. Regardless of what sparks these uprisings, the economic perspective on this is that once free markets and capitalists get their hands on oil reserves, one can expect massive price increases in oil. For all the fuss over $100/barrel today, people will be fussing over $600/barrel prices then.

Prepare yourself to fork over $400 to fill up the tank on your Hummers, folks. And electric car/hybrid drivers, pat yourselves on the back for being smart early.

As for the first post in this thread, many folks attribute this and Iran's clashes to the Internet. Information beyond a country's borders, social media and blogs are deflating the impact of state-run media in many countries and creating a generation of better-informed youth who want more than totalitarian regimes can offer.

[jesyflowers]

*pats self on back as a Prius driver since '02*

For all the uprisings we are seeing, I think it should be noted that the countries that still are in the most dire straights when it comes to upheaval still seem to be the countries we are in: Afghanstan and Iraq. As I've said all along, let's see how these countries do when we are fully out of them. My money's still violent civil wars, and in the long run, we'll see things are the same, if not possibly worse.

[boizzones]

One of the reasons for the Iraq War was the hope that Democracy in Iraq would encourage other Arab countries to overthrow their dictatorial regimes and embrace freedom.

Seriously?

That may have been one of the post-invasion justifications for the war, once no WMDs were found, but that's about it.

[hjyAMqqT]

Seriously?

That may have been one of the post-invasion justifications for the war, once no WMDs were found, but that's about it.

Yeah, slot that one after "Saddam went after my Daddy."