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"If that region grows in democracy and prosperity and hope, the terrorist movement will lose its sponsors," Bush said
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AIR
FORCE ACADEMY, Colorado, June 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies)
- In a 45-minute foreign policy speech on Wednesday, June 2, U.S.
President George W. Bush defended the war on terror, likening it to
World War II, and called for the spread of freedom and democracy in
the Middle East.
"If
that region is abandoned to dictators and terrorists, it will be a
constant source of violence and alarm, exporting killers of increasing
destructive power to attack America and other free nations," Bush
said, referring to the Middle East.
"If
that region grows in democracy and prosperity and hope, the terrorist
movement will lose its sponsors, lose its recruits and lose the
festering grievances that keep terrorists in business," he added,
addressing nearly 1,000 cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
"Now
freedom is stirring in the Middle East and no one should bet against
it," Bush said, adding that combating "terrorism and
bringing greater freedom to the nations of the Middle East is the work
of decades."
He
said Washington "will work with every government in the Middle
East dedicated to destroying the terrorist networks. In the longer
term, we will expect a higher standard of reform and democracy."
Topping
Bush's agenda at the upcoming summit of the world's eight big
industrialized nations (G8) next week in the U.S. will be the
democratic reforms in the Middle East region through the so-called
the
Greater Middle East Initiative .
The
administration, facing an uproar from several Arab countries opposing
what they see as "reform imposed from the outside", invited
some Arab and Mideast leaders to the G8 summit.
Arab
heavyweights
Egypt
and Saudi Arabia
declared they would not attend.
However,
several Arab experts have argued that Washington
scaled
back
its controversial reform recipe for fear that reforms and democratic
elections would probably bring "Islamists" to the helm of
power in several countries.
Terror,
WWII
Bush
outlined what he called a four-part strategy for fighting terrorism,
all of it pre-existing policy, according to the New York Times.
The
U.S., he said, will use "every available tool" to dismantle
and destroy terrorists and their organizations, deny them places of
sanctuary and support, stop them from obtaining chemical, biological
and nuclear weapons, and deny them "the ideological victories
they seek by working for freedom and reform in the broader Middle
East."
Likening
the war on terror to the World War II, Bush said that just as events
in Europe determined the outcome of the Cold War, events in the Middle
East will determine the fate of the terrorism fight.
"Like
the murderous ideologies of the last century, the ideology of
murderers reaches across borders.
"The
enemies of freedom are opposed by a great and growing alliance"
beyond the United States, he argued.
"Nations
that won the Cold War, nations once behind an Iron Curtain, and
nations on every continent see this threat clearly. … The war on
terror is civilization’s fight. And, as in the struggles of the last
century, civilized nations are waging this fight together."
In
an implicit criticism of Washington's do-it-alone policy, European and
Latin American leaders pressed late Friday, May 28, for a greater
multilateral
decision-making
to solve pressing international problems.
The
speech was the second by Bush in a series of what the White House is
billing as major presidential addresses on Iraq leading up to the
transfer of authority from the U.S.-led occupation to a new Iraqi
government on June 30.
On
Monday, May 24, Bush outlined
a
five-step plan
for power transfer to Iraqis, but set no date for the withdrawal of
U.S.-led occupation forces.
"The
President’s remarks appeared to try to strike a balance between
frightening Americans and offering himself as the only choice to lead
the nation out of danger and to shore up his credentials as commander
in chief in an election year when polls show support for the Iraq war
and his presidency declining," according to the Times.
Praising
Sharon
In
his attempt to paint a more stable future for the Middle East, Bush
has only a few words to say about the Palestinians’ struggle against
the Israeli occupation, which is, according to Arabs, at the heart of
the problem and a main source feeding hardline groups and
anti-American sentiments.
Almost
typically, Bush described Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan
to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza as a "courageous step"
that offers a new opportunity to build a Palestinian state.
Bush
claimed Wednesday, April 21, that the world owes Sharon a "
thank
you ."
The
U.S. President had stronger words for the Palestinians, saying
Washington will only work with reform-minded Palestinian leaders
dedicated to fighting violence.
Bush
backtracked in an interview published Saturday, May 8, on the 2005
date, he set two years ago, for the establishment of a Palestinian
state, pleasing the Israelis and riling the Palestinians.
"I
think the timetable of 2005
isn't
as realistic as
it was two years ago," Bush told Egypt’s leading daily, Al-Ahram.
