Walid Jumblatt, Hosni Mubarak and Mahmoud Abbas appear to have done what Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and Dick Cheney could not, namely prompt a bout of serious self-doubt among the critics of the Iraq war.

The coincidence of democratic developments in the broader Middle East in the first two months of this year - as exemplified by the Druze leader's calls for an independent and free Lebanon, the Egyptian president's move towards multi-candidate elections and the Palestinian president's willingness to work with Israel towards a settlement - have emboldened neoconservative advocates of President George W. Bush's "liberty doctrine" and muffled the naysayers.