Among the programs set to expire are party-building organizations and the Iraq Civil Society and Media Program. This second institution was responsible for the Iraqi National News Agency—the “first independent news agency in the Arab world.” That is a remarkable accomplishment in itself, but like elections it is a first and not a last step toward securing Iraq’s future. While the United States cuts funding for political parties and civil society groups, Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr is gloating over our hypocrisy and recruiting discontents to fire upon American soldiers. There is little reason for Iraqis to trust American values if the President displays so little confidence in them.

Critics of these criticisms, an awfully hard bunch to please, counter that the Bush Administration cannot be blamed for the acts of Islamists seeking to abort liberty in Iraq. Yet this vile ideology, arguably the region's most plentiful and profitless export, must be countered with more than platitudes and a smug attitude about historical inevitability. American scholar Francis Fukuyama has publicly renounced his own belief in such outcomes, joining a growing list of defectors from this President’s Iraq policy.

Having lived (though mostly having died) in Saddam Hussein's vacuum, Iraqis are starved for true political engagement. America must aggressively promote the same values that animate our dynamic society. While Iraq has begun to emerge under a new constitution, the President is ignoring the finest principles in our own. The Bush Administration has ceded much ground to Islamists in its neglect of making the case for liberal democracy. President Bush cannot be blamed for Islamism, but should be held accountable for failing to fight it. This latest misstep in a series of blunders is the most impeachable of offenses.