thousands, mostly from the opposition opposition according to human rights watch. there was an american president who understood blind support for arab dictators no matter that they were admirably secular or willing to jail jihadis or willing to stay at peace with israel. he said 60 years of western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the middle east did nothing to make us safe. that was of course george w. bush. the fact that bush s administration so botched its remedy regime change and occupation of iraq should not blind us to the fact that it was accurate and intelligent in its diagnosis of the problem. the arab world provides no easy answers. trapped as it is between repressive dictators and ill-liberal democrats. but that does not mean blindly supporting the autocrats is the answer. with the military dictators and