"Just look at Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the many Stans, China, etc..."

So the existence of brutal Arab dictatorships and the tyrannies in Asia and Eastern Europe are the fault of Bush?

pretty silly

Chris O,

I don't think anyone rational really thinks that Bush is actually promoting freedom. He may believe he is because he is essentially a delusional person in a bubble but who really thinks he's actually doing that...except for some idiotic pundits who the media keeps having on despite their complete lack of any credit whatsoever (William Kristol comes to mind- like Jon Stewart once said "Does Kristol EVER get it right?")

My biggest peave is how Bush gets credit for promoting democracy around the world, for his "freedom" agenda. This is the most transparent, false propaganda ever propagated, or propagable. Yet he is spoken of as a true believer in this cause. What a joke. Just look at Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the many Stans, China, etc.

Fred Kaplan's description of the divisions in Iraq after Saddam Hussein sounds a lot like Yugoslavia after Tito. The example was right there, but the decisionmakers couldn't learn from it.

Bush and Musharraf are insisting that Pakistan go ahead with elections but they are over looking the fact that political parties have been supressed for so long that religious parties are the only ones that get elected. This is one reason why the country's parliament is full of mullahs.

Of course Bush thought democracy would just sprout. His mind is muddled by simplistic juvenile good vs. evil religious dogma which has no connection to actual reality. And he was surrounded by a bunch of neo-con idealogues who wish to create a de facto American empire...they found the perfect empty vessal in Bush.

Mr. Kaplan, can you please distinguish the philosophical differences between US leaders and our European NATO leaders on which direction "the West" should be heading... and is this difference in direction or approach the reason for the ailing alliance?

Does Mr. Kaplan have suggestions for new secretaries of Defense and State in the next administration that would help get us out of this mess. Somebody that understands what we did wrong after the fall of the Soviet Union, and after 9/11.

If American Power were wrecked then the country's companies, real estate, stock market, etc. would attract exactly zero dollars in Foreign Direct Investment. I believe our armies and our economies and even our word is nearly as strong as ever. (Sadly, that word can be applied to our "environment.")