I thought Bush believed regimes like the UAE's were going to be overthrown

[Inland]

The UAE, which owns and controls the corporation Bush wants to take over the ports, is a group of seven feudal states, run without any representative bodies and occupied largely by non-citizens without any rights at all. Not to mention slavery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates#The_7_Emirates_and_their_present_rulers

The theory behind Bush's Iraq policy was that a democracy right there in the arab world would cause all the other countries in the ME to thrown off their repressive regimes, like the UAE regimes.

But when it comes to port security, Bush seems certain that the ruling elites of the UAE aren't going to be undergoing any changes whatsoever.

Is this inconsistent?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Democracy is on the march!

[Selatius]

2. That, my friend, is called HYPOCRISY

And they wonder why we're so hated in that part of the world.

Many ordinary people resent the fact that we claim to support democracy because they see us, at the same time, supporting authoritarian regimes in power from Egypt to Saudi Arabia to the UAE.

If you're an Iraqi, the US government can save your ass from tyranny for you, but when you try to do it yourself, you're called a terrorist for doing it without their permission.

[enigma000]

3. Can't do them all at once....one at a time

Maybe during the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Bush Jr. administration in 2056 we can bit farewell to tyranny. But not...quite....yet....