Moderate Muslims must speak louder

Next week will mark the fourth anniversary of al-Qaida's aerial attack on two New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon in Washington.

Let us take stock of what has happened so far in the war on terrorism triggered by those acts.

The Taliban in Afghanistan have been decimated, and the people of that country have been freed and are moving down the road to some form of democracy. Osama bin Laden remains at large, as do pockets of his al-Qaida followers, but many hundreds have been eliminated.

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein has been toppled and millions of liberated Iraqis have elected for freedom. Saddam's old guard-turned-terrorist, fearing the force of democracy, seeks to thwart that process, and its suicide-bombers and gunmen are killing a sizable number of American troops and many more Iraqis. Amid chaos and danger, Iraqi politicians have been struggling to produce a constitution acceptable to the diverse political and religious factions of their country and have so far been unable to get Sunnis to sign on to it.

In part because of what has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab Islamic world is in ferment. Intellectuals are speaking up against despotism. Opposition parties are carefully burgeoning. The press is becoming cautiously more adventuresome. Freedom is in the air and rulers in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait and even Iran are wrestling with its meaning, and in some cases taking small steps to support it.

Americans are an impatient people, anxious for progress. Some would like to see the political process in Iraq and elsewhere in the Islamic world move much faster. But they should remember that the writing of America's own constitution was an onerous affair, and their own politics are sometimes beset by rancor and obstruction.

Moreover, the United States cannot impose democracy on these awakening Islamic lands. It can help establish the framework in which democracy can thrive. Doing this for Iraq has already cost the United States dearly. But Iraqis must take it from there. They and the peoples of other Arab and Islamic lands must have a hunger for freedom and be prepared to endure hardship in pursuit of it.

America can help with the planting, but whether democracy will flourish and be strong depends on the people of those countries. Even then, it may be democracy of a character unique to the region, and not necessarily the most pleasing structure for the United States.

For President Bush, spreading democracy and waging war against terrorism go hand in hand.