Right now, I'm listening to President Bush speak before an Arab-American audience in Dearborn, Michigan. The President has received several standing ovations. People have spontaneously yelled out praise for a free Iraq (somewhat reminiscent of a southern spiritual revival--only in America).

Would the left-wing and Arab media deny this is happening? I'm sick of hearing it: "Everyone hates America. Arabs have no problems. The U.S. and Israel are the source of all evil." This is the Arab, UN, and left-wing litany.

The fall of Saddam in just three weeks has shaken up the bravado, anti-Semitism, and anti-Americanism generally gripping the Arab world. I don't say this loosely. I say this because of many visits to the Middle East and closely following the Arab press (in English). Notice I said generally, because I know there are many, many good, intelligent people in the Arab world. Unfortunately, these people have lived under fear of death for holding intelligent views.

Just one example of the shake-up caused by the American victory in Iraq is an editorial that appeared in the Arab News of April 26, which was pointed out to me by IsraPundit. This article is proof that things are changing.

You need to read this article for yourself. But I will nonetheless highlight several points.

The editors admit the ridiculous coverage of the Iraq war in the Arab media:

To put it bluntly: A great many journalists and media outlets have been left with egg on their face. From accepting the wild claims of Iraqi minister of information Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf, to wildly predicting a jihad among the Iraqi people, very little the Arab media speculated on had, when push came to shove, anything to do with reality.

Then they admit what most of us have been pointing out for years--namely that the Arab world has projected (see Freud) its problems on Israel:

This, of course, is nothing new. For decades it has been difficult to find anything in the opinion pages of the Arabic language press that did not concern Israel. Every problem faced by Arab societies was blamed, in however obscure or far-fetched a way, on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

Finally:

The days when the Arab world could just scream “Israel”, as if that one word were sufficient answer to every question about every problem that came its way — as though saying that one word could deflect all further inquiry — are over. The time for peaceful coexistence, internal reflection and healthy, progressive thinking has come.

Read it for yourself. I am still pinching myself to make sure I'm not hallucinating (or engaging in "wishful thinking," as the Arab News puts it).