the announcement of the arms deal, it's become apparent that washington's democracy agenda has becom becoe or less abandoned. instead, the u.s. now seems to favor a policy constructed around a fictitious storyline that betrays the world as a battleground between the forces of moderation and extremism. the resulting fear of iran, what we found in our interviews in the region, is here in iran is the extra emergency has provided a useful pretext for opponents of reform to batten down the hatches and if her on any domestic -- domestic experiences. it's not really clear if this coalescence of state power is cause for celebration from the u.s. perspective. there are a number of worries internal trends in the region that predate the iraq war, that we get our policy concerns with iran. they are related to misgovernance, lack of civil society, problems of legitimacy. many were identified after the wake of the september 11, 2001 attacks as being the wellspring of radicalization in terrorism. and their persistence today argues that the domestic reform should not be sacrificed at the expense of a cont