January 13, 2010 7:45AM 

# So Much for That Argument for War! 

By [Doug Bandow](https://www.cato.org/people/doug-bandow) 

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Remember when President George W. Bush was pushing war for democracy? Excited neoconservatives promised that a new wave of democratization was about to roll through the Middle East, sweeping out authoritarian and anti-American regimes.

Oops.

[Reports the *Washington Times*:](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/13/rights-liberties-decline-for-fourth-straight-year/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_more_news_carousel)

> The most significant finding of the latest report is the decline in freedom in the Middle East, \[Arch Puddington\] said.
> 
> 
> Three countries — Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain — were reclassified from “partly free” to “not free,” and freedoms declined in Morocco and Iran.
> 
> 
> “Freedom House saw the region as a whole as headed slightly in the right direction after 9/11,” he said. “But that has changed.”

Not only are countries moving backwards, but America’s friends and allies are leading the parade: Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain.

So much for that justification for invading and bombing other lands.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) 

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