Obama Praises Tunisian Tyrant

It was bound to happen. The Tunisian tyrant Ben Ali is a favorite of Western governments. Why should he not be? Ben Ali did not support the war in Iraq, but he raised little objection and his government is a secular regime combating its own militant Islamic fundamentalist.

At a time when the Western world seeks Arab/Muslims allies in the previously dubbed "War on Terror," Washington and European capitals are not keen on alienating a nation like Tunisia.

The high-lightening of human rights abuses and calls for regime change is, of course, a politicized affair. Those nations that oppose U.S. foreign policy are singled out for their abuses, while the more agreeable a nation the more free rein it has to abuse its people.

Thus while Syria is consistently hammered [justifiably] in annual State Department report; Tunisia, which has imprisoned more journalists than any other Arab country, received less pages of condemnation.

President Clinton exchanged warm letters with Ben Ali and while President Bush brought up press freedom with Ben Ali seated right next to him, the latter never applied any pressure for democratization.

And appears that Obama will not either. The president's envoy to Israel-Palestine, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell [who is half-Lebanese], made a stop in Tunisia prior to his landing in Tel Aviv.

Meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, Mitchell praised the "strong ties" between both nations and added that he was in Tunis to express greeting and high consideration to Ben Ali on President Obama's behalf.

Many Tunisian human rights activists will be quite dismayed at such language, and many will just sigh at its inevitability. But the hope in changing Tunisia should never be placed in the United States; unless Tunisians want to resign themselves to the demoralizing words of Anwar Sadat that all matters rest in American hands.

The task of bringing freedom and democracy cannot be a foreign endeavor, but one rooted in a domestic, grass-roots movement. It is not Obama who will be the liberator, but a generation of Tunisians. What Tunisian should expect though is that the U.S. does not work against them by providing aid to Ben Ali's autocratic 22 year [and counting] regime.

Tunisians need not worry about the words of this or that president, but, instead, look inwards in building the country they want. . . and deserve.