An "Arab spring" is spreading through the Middle East thanks to the American presence in Iraq, Time magazine columnist Charles Krauthammer said yesterday.
Formerly a psychiatrist, Krauthammer described both his past and current occupations as being very similar, in each case "spend[ing] my day analyzing people with paranoia and delusions of grandeur, except in Washington, they have access to nuclear weapons, which makes the stakes higher and the work more interesting."
A self-described pessimist, the conservative columnist was upbeat at the talk in Steinhardt Hall about current prospects for change and peace in the Middle East, citing the "Bush Doctrine" as the primary impetus.
Recent pro-democracy demonstrations across the region have been dubbed an "Arab spring," made possible, Krauthammer said, when the world began to see "American soldiers protecting the only democratic election in the entire Arab world."
Krauthammer said he supported the war, even though he acknowledged that weapons of mass destruction were cited as the primary reason for war simply to receive more world support.
Krauthammer also said that the global left "is in such disarray over Iraq and the Middle East because it betrayed itself in opposing the war. ... They ended up supporting a regime that has killed more Muslims than anyone on the planet."
Krauthammer was similarly direct when asked why the global left opposed the war.
"Pure anti-Americanism. That principle overrode all of them. With the failure of socialism, the left has no positive idea to point towards," he said.
Contrasting today's Arab-Israeli peace process with the 1993 Oslo peace accords, Krauthammer was optimistic.
He called Oslo "one of the great catastrophes in Jewish history," saying that it caused 1,000 or more deaths and set peace back a generation.
Today's peace process is different, with the leaders of terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad asking not for land as a prerequisite to negotiations, but for an end to what has been an "effective" policy of targeted assassinations.
Another important factor he cited by was the continuing construction of a "security fence" which has drastically reduced the number of suicide bombings in Israel.
"It has changed the entire dynamic of the region," he said of the completed northern portion of the fence.
There has not been a single attack in northern Israel since that portion of the fence was completed.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has created conditions in which Krauthammer believes the Palestinians will have to accept "that the terror and pain of the second intifada has failed."
Wharton sophomore Greg Cohen expressed pleasure with the talk.
"It's refreshing to see a conservative voice on this overwhelmingly liberal campus," he said.
