US distractions let in 'foes'

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - More than five years after invading Iraq as a first step towards "transforming" the Middle East, the administration of US President George W Bush seems to have lost its footing - let alone its unquestioned domination - throughout the region.

The talk of "democratizing" the region has almost entirely disappeared from the administration's rhetoric as Washington has had to sacrifice whatever pressure it had been willing exert on "friendly authoritarians" among Arab states to bolstering their rule against popular sentiment that has become considerably more hostile toward the US than before the invasion.