Los Angeles Times: Bush Fires Up Mideast Reform

Neil Hicks is one of the leading U.S. based experts on legal and human rights in the Middle East. For years he was with the Lawyer's Committee on Human Rights in New York. He points to the constructive role that George W. Bush has played in placing political reform on the Middle East agenda. There is an irony here in that with the power of the U.S. behind his words, Bush has propelled the topic into public debate while the actions of the U.S. in Iraq and its pro-Israel skew guarantee that any actions promoted by the White House are DOA. Kerry offers more of the same in terms of Israel right-or-wrong, but his words imply much less enthusiasm for the reform agenda (which would return the US to the policies of the 1980s and 1990s). Thus, there is something to debate in terms of how the outcome of the presidential race will affect the Middle East.

Los Angeles Times: Bush Fires Up Mideast Reform