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There are four things that America needs to do. More than mere salesmanship, these strategies will tell the multitudes in the Islamic lands what America is about, and what its power aims to do.1. Succeed in Iraq
A representative government under our auspices will have to be put in place, and this must be a showcase of both American benevolence and determination.
The way out of Iraq's despotic past will not be easy. No simple one-man, one-vote system will get us there. That formula would end in the ascendancy of the Shi'ites, who make up 60 percent of the population, at the expense of Iraq's other communities, including Sunnis, Kurds, Chaldeans, Assyrians and Turkmen.
No compromise ought to be made with those who would want to impose on Iraq a Shi'ite clerical state in Iran's image. Those theocrats must be reined in, and America should not hesitate to do so. Fortunately, the majority of Iraqi Shi'ites, as well as some sensible clerics and seminarians, appear to want no part of the clerical reign of "virtue and terror" that has wrecked Iran.
There is no way to know how long it will take to rehabilitate Iraq. After World War II it took nearly a decade to demilitarize and democratize Japan. Its political culture had to be detoxified and its educational system revamped. That kind of work will have to be done in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Arabs and Muslims everywhere will be watching to see what the new American order will bring forth. Transform Iraq with a system based on the rule of law, and the reverberations of reform will be felt in nearby Iran and in distant Morocco and Algeria. Walk away from Iraq, and the message will be one of American abdication.
2. End military presence in Saudi Arabia
This was Pax Americana's principal base in the Arab world, dating back to the early 1930s. But the Saudi realm has changed. America's military presence now arouses hostility.
Radical preachers have stepped forth to rail against the presence of "crusaders" on holy Islamic land. It was this xenophobia that gave the forces of Al Qaeda their frenzy and their passion.
America -- and Saudi rulers -- will be better off if we work out of the smaller, more secular realms in the Persian Gulf: Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Qatar has been the trendsetter here. A kind of modernism -- voting, women's rights -- has come to this small principality. It is keen on having an American presence, and is unembarrassed about it. Realizing this, American military planners already have transferred the day-to-day responsibility for air missions in the region from the Prince Sultan Air Base, near the Saudi capital of Riyadh, to a backup headquarters in Qatar.
But this partial withdrawal will not satisfy the anti-American zealots. Our entire military needs to leave Saudi Arabia, however tempting it may be to keep U.S. equipment, aircraft and training crews there.
This could be the beginning of a more normal American role in the Persian Gulf. The Saudi realm, meanwhile, would be left to work out the terms of a new social contract between rulers and ruled, between religion and the requirements of modern life.
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