Fouad Ajami

What's really important is the emergence of a political class that would agree on the rules of the game.

What's really important is the emergence of a political class that would agree on the rules of the game.

I don't think the constitution will make or break Iraq. What will make or break Iraq is the coalition of read more

I don't think the constitution will make or break Iraq. What will make or break Iraq is the coalition of this national will.

I don't think countries in the region are ruled by constitutions.

I don't think countries in the region are ruled by constitutions.

[These others -- the overwhelming majority of Iraq's people -- have repeatedly given every indication of valuing their newfound freedom: read more

[These others -- the overwhelming majority of Iraq's people -- have repeatedly given every indication of valuing their newfound freedom: voting in two elections at the risk of their lives, preparing for a third, writing and ratifying a constitution granting more freedoms than exist in any country in the entire Arab Middle East.] The secret is out, ... There is something decent unfolding in Iraq. It's unfolding in the shadow of a terrible insurgency, but a society is finding its way to constitutional politics.

There must have been great yearning and repression in Mohamed Atta's life; it is the torment of Atta's generation. They read more

There must have been great yearning and repression in Mohamed Atta's life; it is the torment of Atta's generation. They were placed perilously close to modernity, but they could not partake of it.