That’s a big “if”

Here’s Duncan Currie in the Weekly Standard with “2005: A Tipping Point?”

But if the coming decades do in fact witness a democratic reformation in Middle Eastern politics, historians will likely trace its roots back to the events of 2005--namely, to the purple fingers of Iraqi voters. Just listen to what longtime Egyptian democracy activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim told columnist Jim Hoagland a few weeks ago in Washington. Ibrahim, who initially opposed the Iraq War, now believes U.S. intervention "has unfrozen the Middle East, just as Napoleon's 1798 expedition did."

Still, given the resiliency of democracy in the 20th century, there’s good reason to hope that Iraq will prove an example for the wider Middle East.