Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Articolo IHT-Spiegel: Reaping What Bush Sowed

From its strategic outpost in Iraq, the United States was to have
hemmed in Iran and Syria. Instead, Iran is enjoying an unprecedented
bout of muscularity, its Shiite allies now having gained the upper hand
in neighboring Iraq. Syria continues to turn a blind eye as militants
transit its territory to join the fight in Iraq. And Damascus has now
teamed up with Tehran to aid and abet the alliance between Hamas and
Hezbollah.
Far from taming the region's politics, Washington's policies have
succeeding in putting a truculent Iran in command of the Islamic
street. In Tehran, a dogmatic leadership imbued with messianic aims is
both behind Hezbollah's forays and capitalizing on them to establish
itself as the vanguard of political Islam. A defiant Iran is leading
the Shiite masses once more abandoned by their corrupt and illegitimate
leaders.
Again, it did not have to come to this. The reformists formerly in
power in Tehran sought moderation at home and peace abroad, but were
ignored by Washington. Had the Bush administration been more
forthcoming, and taken advantage of the bilateral cooperation that
emerged amid the war in Afghanistan, it could have empowered the
reformers.
The Bush administration has done no better on the Palestinian-Israeli
front. Preoccupied with Iraq, Washington has effectively disengaged
from the peace process. The Bush team not only abandoned Bill Clinton's
diplomatic efforts, but also derided them as naïve and ineffectual.
But for all its faults, Clinton's diplomacy sustained a process of
reconciliation that kept an uneasy peace. Since the inception of Israel
in 1948, every decade has been plagued by an Arab-Israeli war - except
the 1990s.
In contrast, Bush's disengagement has only led to the radicalization of
Palestinian politics. Even major Israeli concessions, such as
withdrawal from Gaza, are unable to quell the extremist fervor when
they take place absent the cover of consensual diplomacy.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11th tragedies, the guardians of the
American imperium perceived it all to be so easy. A political culture
that had sanctified suicide bombings and militant ideologies was to be
remolded by America's power. The war in Iraq was to be the key to
solving the Arab predicament.
The Bush administration may well be seeking the right end in the Middle
East - the pacification of the region through economic and political
liberalization.
But we already have ample proof that it has chosen the wrong means. Its
errant attempt to impose democracy through force has backfired, only
stirring up a hornet's nest and risking a region-wide crisis.
Iraq lies in ruins, Islamist forces are strengthening, and the
Palestine-Israel conflict threatens to become a full-scale war. Even
more ominously, the Middle East is being polarized along sectarian
lines, empowering an Iran with nuclear ambitions. The mistakes of the
Bush administration are coming home to roost.
Charles A. Kupchan, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown
University, is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Ray Takeyh is a
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of "Hidden
Iran: Power and Paradox in the Islamic Republic."

 Bush administration are coming home to roost.
Ottimo articolo grazie.
Am.