Statements like this bother me. In The Weekly Standard — the neo-conservative journal of record- – historian Victor Davis Hanson wrote in 2002, “Iraq is a Muslim country with no tradition of consensual government or even an indigenous vocabulary for ‘democracy,’ ‘citizen,’ ‘secularism,’ or ‘referendum.'” Mr. Hanson, let me personally assure you that there are Arabic words for all of these ideals and Arab democratic political advocates were tortured and killed by corrupt, pro-Western governments for uttering them.

But let’s be fair and address the subtext of the statement. It is related to the familiar question, “Where are the moderates? Why has democracy failed to take root in the Arab and Muslim world?”

Well, the moderate writers, professors and political leadership in the Arab and Muslim world have been killed, intimidated into silence, thrown in prison, or forced to flee. This was often done with the knowledge and approval of our own government and its allies. This reminds me of Capt. Renault in “Casablanca,” who was “shocked! shocked!” to find that gambling was going on at Rick’s Café.

We are now shocked that secular democracies are in such short supply in the region. So allow me to turn the question on its head for a moment and ask, “Where were the Western political leaders when secular democratic writers, professors and political activists were being killed off by their Middle Eastern client regimes?”

But it is not enough to keep flagellating ourselves over the sins of the past. We certainly made mistakes, and it is better late than never to promote democracy in the Middle East. What are we doing now?

The current administration’s talk of democracy and liberty should be encouraging. But I am unconvinced for two reasons.

The first is that you can pretty much bet the convent endowment on the fact that anything that Dick Cheney is involved in is not being done out of concern for “the people,” American or otherwise. It is a little too convenient that after the weapons of mass destruction didn’t materialize, after we found out that Saddam Hussein was not linked to 9/11 and after the poorly planned occupation embarrassed us internationally, we then began to hear about the glorious Iraqi democratic revolution.

In my own humble opinion, the “democracy in Iraq” rhetoric has more to do with legitimizing our presence there than any genuine concern for democracy. If you think I am being too cynical, then keep reading.

Apparently, the Iraqi elections on Jan. 30, 2005, were “tilted” a bit by the U.S. government in favor of Ayad Allawi, the guy who would be president of Iraq if Bush’s prayers were actually being answered by God. What can I say? Old habits die hard.

The second reason I remain unconvinced is because our government continues to ignore sincere grassroots attempts at democratic reform in Arab and Muslim states. The March 14 alliance in Lebanon is floundering and at risk of collapsing, thus leaving Hezbollah as the strongest force in Lebanon. The March 14 group is a coalition of Christians, Sunnis, the Druz and some Shiites who are fighting for a secular, democratic and free Lebanon. What is going on? We should be flooding these people with good press, money and all of the other things that are normally reserved for people sitting on oil wells.

Don’t let me forget to mention the brave Mustafa Barghouti, a man who is single-handedly fighting against both the vipers at Hamas and the corrupt and bloated carcass of what was once the Arafat-controlled Palestinian Authority. His party, the Palestinian National Initiative, advocates nonviolent resistance to Israel, a secular, democratic and transparent independent Palestine living peacefully alongside a secure and prosperous Israel. Are we waiting until he gets killed so that we can continue to cry about the lack of democratic politicians on the Palestinian side?

That we are not helping these and the many other people who are speaking out despite the threats to their lives and to the lives of their families is shameful. If it’s democracy we truly want, then let’s start supporting political activists who will accomplish the goal without 4,000 Americans losing their lives.

Othman is a senior in political science and reads The Weekly Standard only so that you don’t have to.