The citizens of the Middle East not only heard the gist of President Bush's inaugural address loud and clear, they took it to heart.

When President Bush professed "complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom," his critics mocked him as a naive idealist. Even many of the president's supporters thought it would take decades for history to vindicate his call for an /files/storyimages/to tyranny throughout the world.

Yet in the course of just weeks, country by country, the spread of democracy in the Middle East has become a groundswell. There is no one symbolic incident, no Berlin Wall. And these first steps toward democracy are mostly tentative and incremental. But the fact that democracy has taken seven thousand years to arrive, in some instances, makes the transformation that much more historic.

Iraq

It's fitting that Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, should become the cradle of democracy in the Middle East. President Bush's insistence that the Iraqi election proceed on schedule paid off - despite relentless violence by the insurgents who opposed it. The result was a "purple revolution" in which people who risked their lives to vote showed the world how proud they were to have had a say in their country's future. The images of Iraqis waving their ink-stained index fingers on the way home from the polls shook the entire region.

Lebanon

Syria has occupied Lebanon for 20 years, since the /files/storyimages/of Lebanon's civil war. Recently, former prime minister Rafik Hariri called for the Syrians to take their troops home. He was murdered on Feb. 14. Most Lebanese, and many others, believe that the Syrians were behind his assassination. Consequently, thousands of Lebanese took to the streets with their outrage and their demand that the Syrian troops leave; the pro-Syrian Lebanese government collapsed under the pressure of what is now being called the Cedar Tree Revolution.

Perhaps just as amazing, the French have joined the United States and Britain in a United Nations resolution that calls for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon.

Syria

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and even French President Jacques Chirac are closing ranks on Syria not only for its occupation of Lebanon, its suspected assassination of Hariri, but also its sponsorship of terrorism through Hizbullah. Syria has long denied that it was harboring any of the Ba'athists who were fomenting the Iraqi insurgency. Now suddenly - while he is under the international magnifying glass - President Assad has discovered that the brother of none other than Saddam Hussein has been laying low in Syria with a group of his gang members. Mr. Assad has turned these expats over to the Iraqi government.

Egypt

Even Hosni Mubarak's closest advisers were stunned by his announcement that his would no longer be the only name on the ballot. Mr. Mubarak directed that the Egyptian constitution be amended to permit multi-party elections; he explained that "more freedom and democracy" would be good for Egypt. Earlier this year, the Bush administration canceled a visit by Secretary of State Rice after Mr. Mubarak jailed a political rival. Like Lebanon, Egypt has seen an increase in peaceful demonstrations this past year.

Saudi Arabia

Women will get the vote, not this coming election, but the next. The Bush administration complained when Saudi Arabia arrested nonviolent protesters in January's municipal elections. The president also singled out Saudi Arabia in his State of the Union address.

Israel and Palestine

Relations between these two countries are moving steadily forward.

Following the death of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinians elected Abu Mazen, who has publicly acknowledged that Palestinians who kill Israelis are murderers - not heroes. He seems to recognize that the violence must stop for the security of his own country. Israel's Ariel Sharon is meanwhile risking his life to see that Israel pulls out of the Gaza Strip.

The depth of the change in relations between these two countries was underscored when a recent suicide bomber killed a number of Jews. This time, Saddam Hussein was not available to pay his customary $10,000 to the suicide bomber's family. Nor did the Palestinians take to the streets to celebrate; indeed, many were angry that anyone would jeopardize the truce.

Afghanistan

Last October, most Americans were so focused on the U.S. election that they failed to take note of the historic election in Afghanistan. Post-Taliban, even women were allowed to vote. This exercise of democracy was not imposed by military force. Rather, the use of American force removed obstacles to democracy, as it did in Iraq.

Changes occurring

The degree and nature of democratic change within these county varies. But the changes are occurring simultaneously, and at the grass-roots level, due to several factors.

The Middle East is a political vacuum due to the failure of both pan-Arabism and Islamofacism. Pan-Arabism was originally a rejection of the Ottoman Empire; in recent years, it became a weird bl/files/storyimages/of secular, anti-Western socialism and fascism - best exemplified by the Ba'Ath party of Saddam Hussein, Syria's Assad, and Libya's Qadaffi.

At the other extreme, radical Islam tyrannies also appear to be losing their hold. Middle Easterners are turning to democracy as a potential alternative to these two failed philosophies.

In addition, technology spreads information and ideas faster and further than ever. Satellite TV allowed millions to witness the Iraqi elections. The Internet evades government censors. Protesters spread the word via cell phone that the government troops are not shooting.

Back in the Cold War, when countries fell to undemocratic rule, we called it the domino effect. We may be witnessing a reverse domino effect in the Middle East. In this respect, Iraq is the opposite of Vietnam.

Finally, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraqi elections, have played some part in this. The wisdom and the magnitude of that role will be debated for years.

But what is clear, even now, is that President Bush set something historic in motion when he informed the oppressed of the world: "When you stand for liberty, we will stand with you."

Even in a troubled desert, the seeds of liberty still fell on good soil.

Note: Bridget Bush is an attorney who lives in Louisville.