Michael Rubin writes in The Forward (via the Middle East Forum) that a trend toward Arab leaders being held accountable is developing in the Middle East: Long home to farfetched conspiracy theories and a political culture of victimization, the Arab world is now being swept by a new emphasis on accountability. While commentators and pundits debate the merits, drawbacks and sincerity of the Bush administration's drive for democracy, events across the Middle East suggest that the relationship between rulers and the governed has been significantly transformed. The example of Iraq may indeed have a profound effect on other Arab regimes, which is a reason, far more important than WMDs, for the United States to have taken out the Hitlerian dictator and his regime. Ed Lasky   10 28 05(Read Full Post)