Bush reaffirms push for Mideast democracy

His Iraq project may be in trouble and the "Cedar Revolution" in Lebanon he has lauded seems close to collapse, but George W. Bush has not given up on the transformational power of democracy and individual liberties.

In a speech Tuesday to enthusiastic listeners in this former Iron Curtain country, a seemingly undaunted President Bush said the struggle for freedom against a "hateful extremist ideology" that abhors democracy is the struggle of our time. He compared the recent struggle of countries like Latvia – which not so long ago, he said, feared that freedom would never come – with the struggle for freedom in the Middle East.

Mr. Bush also sent a signal to those he called "pessimists" about freedom's chances in the Middle East: The United States would not give up that battle while he is president. In what appeared to be a direct response to political forces in the US pressing for withdrawal from Iraq, Bush said, "We aren't going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete."

Together with comments he made Monday in Estonia, another former Soviet republic, Bush appeared determined to end speculation that the last two years of his presidency would witness a dampened enthusiasm for promoting democracy.

In recent months, Bush has appeared at times to temper his zeal for freedom through democracy as conditions in Iraq have deteriorated. Some of the administration's neoconservative thinkers who promoted transformational intervention have been sidelined, and foreign-policy realists – symbolized by former Secretary of State James Baker III – have returned to the fore.

But Bush did not use the word "stability" – the watchword of foreign-policy realists – even one time in his speech Monday. Many foreign-policy experts have speculated that in the coming months the US would shift from an emphasis on democracy to a focus on stabilizing the country – even at the cost of some individual freedoms. Leaders in the region have appeared to favor a renewed focus on stability. Notably, Jordan's King Abdullah, who will host Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for talks Wednesday and Thursday, warned earlier this week of three civil wars in the region: in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories.

While Bush did refrain from heralding Iraq as a potential beacon to other Middle Eastern countries struggling for freedom – an image he has employed in the past – he did speak of Iraq as one focal point of the 21st- century's defining struggle: freedom's battle with totalitarian extremism.

In his comments Monday to democracy advocates in Estonia, Bush said much of the violence in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East could be explained by extremist resistance to democracy. "When you see a young democracy beginning to emerge in the Middle East, the extremists try to defeat its emergence."

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