I deplore the vehemence with which President Bush and the policies of the United States and of its allies have been denounced in your pages. Hitherto in the Middle East Israel has been the only country that had an independent judiciary and a representative government. The other countries have mostly been subject to arbitrary dictators, and some of these have been singularly cruel.
Now, in consequence of the armed operations of the United States and its allies, there is some prospect that the rule of law and representative government will take root in Afghanistan and Iraq. A prospect is not a certainty, and I avoid the word "democracy" because it is vague and inflammatory. But a prospect is something, and this prospect should be welcomed.
