While the left and many in the MSM wring their hands about the Bush policies on the Global War on Terror, those policies are gaining traction. Actually, the left and MSM seem fixated on marginal minutiae regarding this subject; like flushed Korans, AC levels at GITMO, which music is blasted at GITMO, and of course memos from the summer of 2002 which reflect the public debate of the day as the world decided on regime change in Iraq. That causes much of the hand wringing and why they miss the bigger picture. But today the progress is large enough to distract the MSM to report on events.

After the overthrow of Saddam and the Taliban, the muslim and arab streets began demanding more of a say in their governments. And oppressive, bullying regimes like those in Libya and Syria were given clear guidance on what to do and how to act to stay out of trouble.

In Lebanon the final weekend of voting has occurred and it is little surprise that anti-syrian candidates have won a major victory. This makes sense since Syria has dominated and pushed around the Lebanese since it ‘invaded’ the country in early 1990’s.

Opponents of Syrian domination claimed a stunning majority victory in the final round of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections on Sunday night in a rebellion touched off by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri four months ago.

An anti-Syrian alliance that tried to bridge religious lines and was led by Mr. Hariri’s son, 35-year-old Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, won at least 21 of 28 contested seats in northern Lebanon, the last polling area in the elections that have been staggered over the past four weekends. That gave the alliance a majority in the next 128-seat Parliament.

Hat Tip to Glenn Reynolds for pointing out some interesting phraseology by the NYTimes in this one:

It was a startling change in the way politics have usually been carried out here – along strict clan and religious lines and long under the control of Syria – and perhaps an example of a greater yearning for democracy in the Arab world.

Maybe if the MSM was not so fixated they would not be so stunned and surprised when events occur in the ME that the Bush administration has been working hard to make happen.