Which of the following explains why the U.S. government hesitated to support the Arab Spring revolutions?

a. fear of military retaliation from groups still loyal to Saddam Hussein
b. concern that the revolutions would replace bad leaders with even more extremist ones
c. austerity policies that cut funding for regime-change efforts overseas
d. the revelation that the Arab Spring countries were actually in a later stage of revolution than had previously been thought

b