Should Promoting Democracy Abroad be a Top U.S. Priority?

I agree with the no article because it made better arguements. The Arab's don't trust the U.S. because Bush keeps contradicting himself. How can we help if they won't allow us too? Also, the reform programs did nothing, but cause lots of debt, and it didn't help much. The no article also gives ways to help so we can promote democracy, so the no article is more of there are things that have to be done first then promote, which is what I thought.

Should Arab democrats believe us? The United States has had past support for autocrats, President Bush in November, but we are preaching democracy in the Middle East. Contradictory much? Then some Arabs doubt that President Bush's staying power on behalf of Iraqi democracy, they also doubt that was his goal. Would you follow somebody you couldn't trust? I wouldn't. Also, the United States put itself in a bind when they said that everything will go well with Iraq. Because of this if we fail in Iraq we fail with the Arabs and they loose all trust in us.

Training morocco's feeble parliament; assisted elections commision in Yemen's de facto one-party state; convened a group of Arab judges; education programs, "English in a Box" for Jordanian and Moroccan teachers, Internet connections for Yemeni high schools, and a "child-centered education program" for North Africa and the Gulf. All of this adds to about $3,431,425,000, all this money to help, but none of these stand a chance for a tangible political change.

First, the U.S. government must do a better job of coordinating its assistance programs for civil society with its diplomatic agenda. Then American foreign policy must communicate to Arab governments that states that are actually changing the ditribution of political power will enjoy better relations with the United States than those that talk about reform but fail to implement it. Finally, the United States must trust that shared interests with its Arab interlocutors will mediate the tensions that an effective democratization effort is bound to create.