Re: One can not thank President Bush enough
I agree it was a mistake on the part of intellectual Arabs (i.e. Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians, including Baath ideologues) to adopt leftist and socialist politics. Had they adopted free market policies, they would necessarily have developed democracies. Socialism and government control over the economy is a recipe for dictatorship and stagnation, and the Clever Arabs are paying the price for going the leftie route. Even now, there's not much in the way of intellectual leadership in the Arab world that could propel it in the direction of free market ideology.