"While there have been some arrests, most of the nascent democrats are surviving. Despite all the defiant rhetoric, Egyptian and Saudi police, it turns out, are hesitant to pummel people who say they are responding to the president of the United States.

White House architects of BMENA are quietly pleased: This is exactly what they had hoped for. No one really expects most Arab governments -- or even most Europeans -- to take the cause of Middle Eastern democracy seriously in the near future. But just as the Cold War-era Helsinki process encouraged independent democracy and human rights groups to spring up under the cover of intergovernmental talks, the Forum for the Future has given Arab democrats a crucial opportunity. "
...
" "We do not claim to represent our societies: only a free vote will," the statement said. "What we can confidently claim to represent is a pressing voice in our societies that calls for a profound, nonviolent change at all levels." Each state, it said, should have "set goals and clear milestones for reform within a foreseeable time plan." As for their own mission, the activists said, "what civil society can provide . . . is the power to pressure reluctant governments (and reluctant fellow citizens), keeping a watchful eye on the processes of and progress towards reform."

Such empowering grass-roots rhetoric has never before been heard in the Arab Middle East. If the United States fails in Iraq, it may well be snuffed out. But for now, for those who are listening, it offers reason for hope. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23012-2004Oct10.html