The Real Progress of Freedom in the Middle East

So, how much actual evidence have you heard from the anti-war crowd about 'no progress in Iraq'? Remember the people at the onset of the war who argued that people in Arab countries didn't want democracy 'foisted' upon them? (I actually had a conversation with a very smart colleague who told me that maybe the Arab peoples just couldn't handle democracy! He was dead serious.)

An organization called The Freedom House conducted a scientific survey to gauge the progress of freedom in the Middle East. Their findings?

The people of the Arab Middle East experienced a modest but potentially significant increase in political rights and civil liberties in 2005, Freedom House announced in a major survey of global freedom released today.

The global survey, "Freedom in the World," shows that although the Middle East continues to lag behind other regions, a measurable improvement can be seen in freedom in several key Arab countries, as well as the Palestinian Authority. In another key finding, the number of countries rated by Freedom House as Not Free declined from 49 in 2004 to 45 for the year 2005, the lowest number of Not Free societies identified by the survey in over a decade. In noteworthy country developments, Ukraine and Indonesia saw their status improve from Partly Free to Free; Afghanistan moved from Not Free to Partly Free; and the Philippines saw its status decline from Free to Partly Free.

According to Thomas O. Melia, acting executive director of Freedom House, "The modest but heartening advances in the Arab Middle East result from activism by citizen groups and reforms by governments in about equal measures. This emerging trend reminds us that men and women in this region share the universal desire to live in free societies."

Freedom is like a virus. Once it starts spreading, it is very difficult to stop. Emboldened by U.S. support in Afghanistan and Iraq, the people of the Middle East are putting pressure on their governments, with astounding results.

On the whole, the state of freedom showed substantial improvement worldwide, with 27 countries and one territory registering gains and only 9 countries showing setbacks. The global picture thus suggests that the past year was one of the most successful for freedom since Freedom House began measuring world freedom in 1972.

"These global findings are encouraging," said Arch Puddington, director of research. "Among other things, the past year has been notable for terrorist violence, ethnic cleansing, civil conflict, catastrophic natural disasters, and geopolitical polarization. That freedom could thrive in this environment is impressive."

You can read the whole study and the statistics behind it at the Freedom House website. And lest you be cynical about who might be behind this organization, it was founded by Famous Democrat Eleanor Roosevelt and gets contributions from the Soros Foundations (flaming liberal) as well as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation (neo-con).