Andrew Breitbart was one of the journalists / bloggers / reporters who traveled to Azerbaijan last week Monday in order to be educated about it and to educate Azerbaijanis, in turn, about the United States (and the West in general terms). Breitbart is a columnist for the Washington Times. His column in which he describes Azerbaijan and its importance to the U.S. has been published. I suggest you all read it; I think many if not all on the trip would agree with his message.

 Independent war correspondent Michael J. Totten and National Review’s Rob Long joined me one night in a discussion on an hourlong news program. The topic? Nagorno-Karabakh. Out of necessity, we changed the subject to journalism, specifically to the American concept of a free press – something Azerbaijan claims to be working on. We sold them “transparency” – and it was transparent that we didn’t know much about our strategic ally’s key issue.

Azerbaijan is an under-praised ally of the United States, having granted the U.S. military access to Iraq via its vital airspace, and it has 150 troops assisting coalition forces guarding the Haditha Dam. The first Azeri soldier was killed in Iraq in June. No other majority Muslim country (somewhere near 95 percent, according to my hosts) risks the wrath of extremist Islamic elements quite like this.

If the democratization of the Islamic world is key to American geopolitical thinking, then Azerbaijan must be rewarded for its practical and symbolic help – especially when Iran flexes and Russia thrusts their muscles so brazenly these days.

This is one of the main themes we all basically seemed to agree on. There is a lot of room for the West and especially America to win Azerbaijan and other countries in the region over for good. Sure there are problems, but the opportunity to surround Russia and Iran with strong and valuable allies exists. It also exists in the sense that it is a Moslem country. Actively helping Azerbaijan – by rewarding it for its support and attempt to democratize and open up -would do a whole lot of good to improve the American image in the Moslem world, and among Turks (Azeris are a Turkic people after all). This, in turn, could contribute to changing the ‘Moslem World’ as a whole.

The opportunity is there. Azeris and others in the region are begging the U.S. for attention. For something. For support. For something more than words. Not acting will undoubtedly result in regretting.