Democracy and the war on terror are on a collision course.

(From Gulf News)

Byline: Maggie Mitchell Salem, Special to Gulf News

If you're very quiet, you may hear a low hum emanating from the White House. No, not the whirring of microwave equipment but a distinctive melody, the refrain from a Second World War standard:

"You've got to accentuate the positive/Eliminate the negative/And latch on to the affirmative/Don't mess with Mister In-Between/You've got to spread joy up to the maximum/Bring gloom down to the minimum/Have faith or pandemonium's/Liable to walk upon the scene."

The upbeat tempo and lyrics might offer great solace and PR strategy to US President George W. Bush and his team. Banishing "pandemonium" is clearly a White House communications objective.

From wildly unrealistic predictions about the demise of Iraq's insurgency to an embrace of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's dubious reformation to the current push to fill Baghdad with ambassadors (serving the fortified Green Zone's few thousand Iraqis?), there is no shortage of "silver lining" for any challenge-ridden policy.

But, as American comedian Jon Stewart said in his parody of Bush's pre-election PR …