Hmm. I'm not concerned that what appear to be changes for the better in the Middle-East recently indicate that the Bushies' policies and actions are "working," or that the rape of Iraq is justified thereby. What I object to and will continue to protest against are the self-congratulatory lies coming from the White House and the Pentagon--and the rationalizations of the American Right; and this isn't just another squawk in the barnyard squabble of America's domestic politics; the election to the Presidency of George W. Bush recently should be (and has been, largely) seen as a frightening thing not just for Americans but for everyone in the world.

I think that any good things happening in the Middle-East are happening, perhaps as a consequence of, but nevertheless in resistance to prevailing U.S. policies and military actions. I'm not sure what Walker means by "a general quickening effect" of what's happening in Iraq, and I don't really see the point of Walker's Left-Right equilibrium-balancing exhortation at the end of his article, but still it's intelligent and perceptive.