True, a freedom agenda will not change people's attitudes overnight. However, if pursued consistently, over time, with bipartisan support in the US - and more constant support in Europe - it will have a chance to make serious headway. There are many "ifs" here, but pro-democracy activists can only live on hope; or, as the late Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous put it, they are condemned to hope.

In today’s Middle East, the United States confronts several threats ranging from radical Islamist militancy to the unregulated spread of technologies of WMDs. Responding to these threats, American leaders have identified several vital American interests in the region: securing the domestic United States by defeating Islamist terrorists, ensuring the uninterrupted flow of oil at stable prices, preventing the spread of WMDs, and ensuring Israel’s security. Different American administrations have ordered these priorities differently as their urgency, and the nature of administrations and their domestic contexts change.

If it is yet undiscovered by Washington, it is bound to be revealed sooner or later: In Iraq, America is not only fighting insurgents remaining from the ousted Baathist regime and some "lunatic" volunteers who supported it, but is also fighting a regional system, which survived passing decades resisting change regardless of its source, goals, and tools.