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.