What's Achievable in the Mideast

Backlash against democratic change is on the march in the Middle East one year after freedom seemed to be surging ahead there. This cyclical ebb and flow of forces should be the cause of adjustment in the West, not of despair or of abandoning the push for democratic reform in the region.

The illusion that Lebanon's weak democratic forces would easily shake off Syria's stranglehold on their country has been dispelled. So have hopes that elections in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and the Palestinian territories would automatically enhance or entrench political reform or moderation. But pronouncing democracy in the Middle East a failure after this year of reactive turmoil overshoots the runway again -- in the opposite direction.

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