Bush, Chirac tell Syria to leave Lebanon

BRUSSELS — President Bush used his European trip to make fresh demands of friend and foe alike yesterday in his quest to democratize the Middle East, while he and French President Jacques Chirac jointly called on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon.

Mr. Chirac, who tried to torpedo U.S. efforts to free Iraq from Saddam Hussein, issued a joint communique with Mr. Bush emphasizing the countries’ agreement on Lebanon, and Mr. Bush hinted at a Chirac visit to the United States.

The two men issued a tough joint statement condemning last week’s killing of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister, and calling for a Lebanon “free from foreign domination.”

“We support the U.N. investigation into this terrorist act and … urge full and immediate implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 in all its aspects,” it added, referring to the resolution calling for all foreign forces to leave Lebanon. Syria has 14,000 troops in the neighboring nation.

Before the dinner meeting with Mr. Chirac, which officials described as “extremely cordial,” Mr. Bush was asked by a French reporter whether he would invite Mr. Chirac to his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Mr. Bush, who usually invites only his closest allies to the ranch, grinned at Mr. Chirac and said: “I’m looking for a good cowboy.”

A White House official later told reporters that Mr. Chirac likely would visit Mr. Bush in the United States this year, but no details had been determined.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Bush set his theme as democratization, telling a European audience in the Concert Noble grand theater that Europe’s security depends on spreading liberty throughout the Arab world.

“In the long run, we cannot live in peace and safety if the Middle East continues to produce ideologies of murder and terrorists who seek the deadliest weapons,” Mr. Bush said. “Regimes that terrorize their own people will not hesitate to support terror abroad.

“A status quo of tyranny and hopelessness in the Middle East — the false stability of dictatorship and stagnation — can only lead to deeper resentment in a troubled region and further tragedy in free nations,” he added. “The future of our nations, and the future of the Middle East, are linked — and our peace depends on their hope and development and freedom.”

In their meeting, Mr. Bush also told Mr. Chirac that he opposed a move by the European Union to lift the arms embargo on China, which was imposed after Beijing’s 1989 bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Chirac also played down disagreements between the United States and Europe over the U.S.-led war in Iraq in a meeting that both parties painted as an effort to put the past behind them.

The French leader said he and Mr. Bush had “always had very warm relations” and noted the Franco-U.S. ties have been “excellent for over 200 years now.”

Mr. Bush noted the symbology of “the first dinner since I’ve been re-elected on European soil, and it’s with Jacques Chirac. And that ought to say something.”

In the speech, Mr. Bush made only a few passing references to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, instead spending most of his 31-minute speech upbraiding Syria and Iran and cajoling Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

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