The Doctrine Is Dead

Remember all that gauzy talk about bringing democracy to the Middle East? Remember how President Bush was going to abandon the policy, pursued by previous U.S. administrations for decades, of propping up authoritarian regimes in the Middle East with military aid because doing so served our paramount interest in regional stability?

There may never be a clearer concession of the failure of the Bush Administration's approach to the Middle East than this week's Gates-Rice mission.