Ajami is saying that the Arab nations are not evolving into enlightened governments, but rather are devolving into brutal autocracies, and that this lack of progress is what is causing the phenomenon of radical, violent fundamentalism.

The post-colonial United States was never an authoritarian monarchy equivalent to the modern Middle Eastern and Central Asian states. We shrugged off the British and we evolved into an enlightened democracy faster and more completely than any other government in the history of man. This is why I don't think that your analogy holds up.