Dubya was right [well, maybe] -- from the Guardian!!!

I have previously noted that left-wing organs are slowly wakening to the idea that perhaps the much-despised Dubya might just possibly be right about some things. [here, and here].

Now, there's this:

Perhaps the neocons got it right in the Middle East

We should not be blinded by liberal prejudice when assessing Bush

Max Hastings
Wednesday May 4, 2005

Those of us who work on the gloomy side of the prediction industry about Iraq, the prospects for Middle East peace, and the sanity of the Bush administration, have been given plenty to think about lately....

The greatest danger for those of us who dislike George Bush is that our instincts may tip over into a desire to see his foreign policy objectives fail. No reasonable person can oppose the president's commitment to Islamic democracy....

[We must] reassess the progress of the Bush project, and satisfy ourselves that mere prejudice is not blinding us to the possibility that western liberals are wrong; that the Republicans' grand strategy is getting somewhere....

It seems wrong for either neocon true believers or liberal sceptics to rush to judgment. We of the latter persuasion must keep reciting the mantra: "We want Iraq to come right, even if this vindicates George Bush."
....

We must respect American power, and also acknowledge that the world sometimes has much need of it. As Sir Michael Howard, wisest of British strategic thinkers, often remarks: "If America does not do things, nobody else will." We should acknowledge the limitations of the UN. The pitiful performance of many international peacekeeping contingents, not least in Afghanistan, highlights the feebleness of what passes for European security policy.

Granted, Hastings peppers his article with numerous qualifications and caveats, and he closes with an admonition that the US must be more sensitive to Arab sensibilities than it has been, but even so, the sections cited above constitute a stunning admission from Dubya's foes that he might be right. Taken together with the NYT pieces cited earlier they suggest that a broader reconsideration of Bush's administration may be in the works.

Read the whole thing here.
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