CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS wonders what happened to the Arab street. I guess that Josh Marshall was right all along:

In their view, invasion of Iraq was not merely, or even primarily, about getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Nor was it really about weapons of mass destruction, though their elimination was an important benefit. Rather, the administration sees the invasion as only the first move in a wider effort to reorder the power structure of the entire Middle East. . . .

In short, the administration is trying to roll the table–to use U.S. military force, or the threat of it, to reform or topple virtually every regime in the region, from foes like Syria to friends like Egypt, on the theory that it is the undemocratic nature of these regimes that ultimately breeds terrorism.

He said that like it was a bad thing. Or like it was some sort of secret, when some of us found the approach to be self-evident. Even Iraqis.

UPDATE: Zach Barbera notes that he had figured some stuff out a couple of years ago.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Gregory Djerejian says that lots of people are noticing.

MORE: Heh.

STILL MORE: The Lebanese seem to have figured it out!