Progress in the Arab and Islamic Worlds 

Progress in the Arab and Islamic Worlds

From Hit and Run:
Osama's latest utterances may reflect the fact that things have not been going well from his perspective--and that means they are going well from a U.S. and Western perspective.

Charles Paul Freund points out that both Islamism and Arabism--meaning a radical violent ideology in each case, not merely Islam and Arab nationalism--have been in retreat since the U.S. began to take strong actions immediately after 9/11.

In some important respects, the people who predicted quagmire, and the whole Arab and Islamic world rising up against the U.S., were wrong.

Things may be getting worse in Iraq; and the U.S. presence may be a major factor making things worse. But the wider picture is not that bad. The U.S. may have blundered into, and exacerbated, a local civil war. On the other hand, if it is so local, it may be manageable.