Democracy Rising in the Middle East

It's nice to be correct. Scan down to my January 28 column ("A Great Day for Iraq") and you'll see how I believed that the war in Iraq was correct because a democratic Iraq could be the catalyst for democracy throughout the Middle East. And when Middle Eastern people see they have the power to change their government, they're less likely to get corrupted by radical Islamis and try to change their own system.

The successful Iraqi election has done just that -- a slow but steady toppling of dominoes that has already caused ripples of democracy across the region.

First, the Palestinians democratically elect a leader who is truly committed to the peace process and neutralizing terrorist organizations. Then Egypt allows opposition leaders to run for the first time in modern history. And now, demonstrators have brought down Syria's puppet government in Lebanon after former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated.

A quick aside about Hariri: He was also a former trustee of my alma mater, Boston University. President Hariri was a decent man who started a scholarship fund that helped thousands of Lebanese students receive a BU education, and also helped finance a new business school that BU desperately needed. He understood the importance of attracting business and investment to his country that was necessary in reconstruction. And he also knew Syria was another Baathist dictatorship whose occupation of his country destroyed the infrastructure and economy of his once-vibrant nation.

What's happening here? Arab leaders across the board have seen the writing on the wall. People are not only willing and able to vote, but also rejecting terrorists in their midst by doing so. The Middle East won't fall overnight like Eastern Europe did, but we are starting to see real change here. And, like it or not, it was all made possible by toppling Saddam Hussein.