Bush urges liberty in Mideast

President Bush yesterday condemned 60 years of failed Western policy that supported Middle East governments not devoted to political freedom, and urged Iran, Syria and the Palestinian Authority to move swiftly toward democracy.

The president cautioned against accepting a continuation of the status quo in the region, warning that the new world order after the September 11 terrorist attacks requires the United States and other civilized nations to act.

“Sixty years of Western nations’ excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe, because, in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty,” Mr. Bush said in a speech at the National Endowment for Democracy.

“As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export. And with the spread of weapons that can bring catastrophic harm to our country and to our friends, it would be reckless to accept the status quo.”

With many Western nations choosing not to join the United States in the war in and subsequent rebuilding of Iraq, the president warned against forgetting the lessons of World War II and the Cold War.

“Every nation has learned — or should have learned — an important lesson: Freedom is worth fighting for, dying for and standing for — and the advance of freedom leads to peace,” he said. “Liberty is both the plan of heaven for humanity, and the best hope for progress here on earth.”

The National Endowment for Democracy, created by Congress in 1983, was the site of a famous speech by President Reagan that year on global democracy. Mr. Bush yesterday invoked the deeds of Mr. Reagan.

“President Reagan said that the day of Soviet tyranny was passing, that freedom had a momentum which would not be halted. … Some observers on both sides of the Atlantic pronounced the speech simplistic and naive, and even dangerous. In fact, Ronald Reagan’s words were courageous and optimistic and entirely correct,” he said, drawing applause from several hundred people who attended the endowment’s 20th anniversary.

Most nations in the Middle East are under the control of monarchs or militaries. Turkey is the only Muslim democracy in the region.

“Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty?” Mr. Bush asked. “Are millions of men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are they alone never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter?

“I, for one, do not believe it. I believe every person has the ability and the right to be free,” he said.

Although the United States for years has supported authoritarian governments throughout the region, Mr. Bush said the United States would continue a “new policy, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East.” However, he cited no specifics.

But he praised Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia for their recent steps toward democracy.

“Many Middle Eastern governments now understand that military dictatorship and theocratic rule are a straight, smooth highway to nowhere,” Mr. Bush said, adding that Saudi leaders “can demonstrate true leadership in the region” by giving more power to the people.

Story Continues →