Debates over democracy continue to occupy not only U.S. and European policymakers but Arabs as well. Arguments rage about the merits of top-down versus bottom-up democratization. In coffeehouses and in taxis, Arabs discuss the issue. Can democracy take root in Arab countries? How can democracy's supporters move discount brad paisley tickets democratization forward? In order to gauge progress, it is necessary to measure democracy. Comparisons of such measurements taken in seventeen Arab states between 1999 and 2005 suggest not only is progress lacking in most countries, but across the Middle East, reform has backslid.

Most Arab states lack political legitimacy. Soldiers Mark Twain quotes and ferocious secret police keep their repressive regimes in power. Once U.S. support for these oligarchies wavers, as is happening now, opposition swells up.

The Bush administration is right. Arabs need democracy. But it is behaving like a bull in the Mideast china shop and is following contradictory policies. Bush wants more popular, less dictatorial regimes, but only those catering to U.S. strategic interests.

Most Arab regimes are still shackling the freedom of media by different means. The editor-in-chief post is still a political post in most of our countries,” he said, while observing that censoring media became an “outdated and unacceptable notion.”