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BACK TO : The Bush Doctrine - Key Speeches & Analysis
Bush says democracy taking hold in Mideast (March 2005) 
Bush says democracy taking hold in Mideast In speech at National Defense University, he also renews demand that Syria pull troops from Lebanon; White House offers low-key reaction to Beirut rally By James Gerstenzang Times Staff Writer Boltimore Sun.com, March 8, 2005, 3:24 PM EST WASHINGTON -- In a broad speech demanding greater openness in political life across the Middle East, President Bush today stepped up pressure on Syria to pull out of Lebanon and on Iran to grant wider freedoms, and said democracy and justice have begun to transform the region. Citing the region's struggle with poverty and illiteracy, the history of one-man rule and the use of fear to control populations, the president said: "For all these reasons, the chances of democratic progress in the broader Middle East have seemed frozen in place for decades; yet at last, clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun." "Across the Middle East, a critical mass of events is taking that region in a hopeful new direction," he said. The speech was the most extensive Bush has given on the future of the Middle East in the wake of his State of the Union address setting a broad goal of advancing democracy during his second term. But even as he singled out Iran and Syria, he made only brief reference by name to Saudi Arabia, where the royal family has exercised an iron grip on political life for decades and has only recently allowed municipal elections, which Bush saluted. Nor did he mention other U.S. allies in the region that have less-than-exemplary records in human rights. Speaking on a snowy morning to a largely military audience at the National Defense University, a college for mid-career military officers at Fort McNair here, the president tied political progress in the Middle East to improved living conditions there and increased security for the United States. "Our strategy to keep the peace in the longer term is to help change the conditions that give rise to extremism and terror, especially in the broader Middle East," he said, citing the history in part of the region of "tyranny and despair and radicalism." "This status quo of despotism and anger cannot be ignored or appeased, kept in a box or bought off," Bush said. "Because we have witnessed how the violence in that region can easily reach across borders and oceans, the entire world has an urgent interest in the progress and hope and freedom in the broader Middle East." Calling for "new thinking" there, the president denounced authoritarian rule as "the last gasp of a discredited past." "It should be clear," the president said, employing a phrase he repeated multiple times to hammer home that the points he was making should be obvious, that economic progress requires political modernization, women must be brought in to civic life, "tyranny in the pursuit of stability" has "led to injustice and instability and tragedy," and that "the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance and hope kindled in free societies." "Our duty is now clear," Bush said. "For the sake of our long-term security, all free nations must stand with the forces of democracy and justice that have begun to transform the Middle East." Although the president made only short reference to Iraq, the elections there on Jan. 30 have formed a foundation for much of the administration's public diplomacy directed at the Middle East -- even as the insurgency continues, daily life is subject to random violence, and U.S. troops remain targets of snipers and bombers. Citing the support of Russia, Germany, France and Saudi Arabia, Bush said Syria must end its nearly 30 years of occupation of Lebanon or face greater isolation. Popular opposition to Syria's military deployment in Lebanon, which began during the start of the Lebanese civil war during the 1970s, has caught the Bush administration's attention, and the president has take advantage of it as he presses Damascus to withdraw. Accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad of using "delaying tactics and half-measures" in his declaration that Syria would begin moving its troops back toward its border with Lebanon, he called on Syria to pull out all its military forces and intelligence personnel by the time of Lebanese parliamentary elections in May. In what he said was a message for the Lebanese people, Bush said: "All the world is witnessing your great movement of conscience. ... The American people are on your side. Millions across the Earth are on your side." "Freedom will prevail in Lebanon," Bush declared, rejecting the message from a demonstration today in Beirut by nearly 500,000 pro-Syrian protesters who chanted anti-American slogans. Bush instead took sides with anti-Syrian demonstrators of recent days who have demanded that Damascus remove its 14,000 troops from Lebanon. Later, the White House offered a low-key reaction to the pro-Syrian demonstration in Beirut. "We are glad to see people peacefully express their views in the town square, as they have done for days now," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We hope the Lebanese people will be able to express their view at the ballot box through free elections without outside interference and outside intimidation." Citing what he said was the culpability for a deadly attack at a Tel Aviv nightclub by a radical Palestinian group headquartered in Damascus, the president said "Syria, as well as Iran, has a long history of supporting terrorist groups determined to sow division and chaos in the Middle East, and there is every possibility that will try this strategy again." "The time has come for Syria and Iran to stop using murder as a tool of policy, and to end all support for terrorism," Bush said. Naming no individual nations as he called for support for Israeli and Palestinian states existing side by side in peace, the president added, "Arab states must end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, stop their support for extremist education, and establish normal relations with Israel." He called on Israel to freeze settlement activity in occupied territories, help the Palestinian economy, and create Palestinian borders that establish a contiguous territory on the West Bank. He said Palestinian leaders must fight corruption, support free enterprise, confront terrorist groups, and "rest true authority with the people." Associated Press writer Terence Hunt contributed to this article. Copyright © 2005, The Los Angeles Times |