U.N. Report Extols Democracy 
For Mideast but Criticizes U.S.
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN 
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 6, 2005; Page A4
A new United Nations report ratcheted up debate over the Bush administration's attempt at political reform in the Middle East, arguing that democratic values are essential for the region's future but concluding that U.S. policies are complicating efforts to bring those values about.
The report, which was written over much of last year, before the recent elections in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, said progress toward democracy in the region remained fitful despite American pressure and the best efforts of many Arab reformers. The authors, a panel of 50 Arab intellectuals working under the auspices of the U.N. Development Program, said that while there were indications Arab governments were willing to allow citizens more freedoms and a slightly greater role in public life, most of the reforms were embryonic and fragmentary.
It underscored a big challenge facing the Bush administration as it seeks to replicate the early signs of democratic progress in Iraq and the Palestinian territories in other parts of the Arab Middle East: Arabs share the desire for more freedom and self-rule but mistrust U.S. intentions so much that moves toward democracy run the risk of being rejected as a foreign imposition.
The authors hope their criticisms would be harder for Arab rulers to dismiss than similar assessments by Western governments or nongovernmental organizations. They also said they want their work to bolster efforts of Arab reformers, many of whom are imprisoned or censored, and to trigger broader discussions within the Arab world about democracy and personal liberties.
The work already has attracted broad media attention in the region, with Arabic satellite channels such as al Jazeera devoting extensive coverage to its findings and recommendations.
Even before its release, the report was the subject of controversy. Last year, a lead author said publicly that his team feared losing its U.N. backing because of American and Egyptian anger over the study's conclusions. The world body never came close to withdrawing its support for the report but did pressure the authors to revise it to include stronger and more unequivocal condemnations of terrorism inside both Israel and Iraq, according to William Orme, a UNDP spokesman.
The final draft retains its criticism of both Israel and the U.S., arguing that their occupations of the Palestinian territories and Iraq, respectively, emboldened extremists throughout the region and gave autocratic governments further pretexts for cracking down on reformers and using harsh emergency measures. The tone of the criticism is so harsh that U.N. officials went out of their way to make clear that the world body doesn't share all of the report's conclusions.
The report reserved its sharpest attacks for the autocratic governments in power across the Arab world, accusing them of paying lip service to democratic ideals while effectively failing to introduce more freedoms or actually beginning the transition toward democracy.
The concentration of political power in the hands of monarchies, military dictatorships and unchallenged civilian presidents ruling under semipermanent emergency laws had created a black hole at the center of Arab political life where nothing moves and nothing escapes, the report said.
The report said ordinary Arabs value and crave democracy as much as the citizens of the Western world but have seen those dreams stymied by rulers willing to impose emergency powers for decades on end, to systematically suppress independent courts and parliaments, and to increasingly use religion as an excuse for limiting individual freedoms, especially those of women.
The authors said Arab desires for democracy also were thwarted by the double standard of foreign powers like the U.S. that have long been willing to accept authoritarian rule in countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia in exchange for political stability and access to cheap energy supplies, a bargain that the report warned could prove explosive.