Abul Gheit rebuts Bush's views on mideast sudden democratic shift
Regional-USA, Politics, 3/11/2005

Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has offered a point-by-point rebuttal of US President George W. Bush' s argument that the Middle East is opening to an era of democracy stimulated by the US invasion of Iraq.

In an interview published Thursday by the Washington Post newspaper, Abul Gheit criticised Bush's speech Tuesday to the National Defense University at Fort McNair, in which the president listed elections held by Iraqis and Palestinians and anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon as signs that "clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun" in the Middle East.

"What model are we talking about in Iraq? Bombs are exploding everywhere, and Iraqis are killed every day in the streets," Abul Gheit said." Palestinian elections? There were elections seven years prior."

ÊÊÊ As for Lebanon, Abul Gheit noted something that Bush did not: Tuesday's huge pro-Syrian demonstration mounted by Hezbollah, the Lebanese group that the State Department labels a terrorist organisation. The rally showed that "there are other trends in society." Abul Gheit said, warning that US pressure might lead ethnically and religiously divided Lebanon into chaos.

"Maybe things will get better, but we see what we see," Abul Gheit said. The Foreign Minister also criticised Bush's views for suggesting that for Egypt to keep pace with the shift toward democracy, it ought to carry out specific reforms to ensure competitive presidential elections in September. Abul Gheit's comments were in line with Egypt's criticism of what it has termed US-engineered "regime change" in Iraq as well as with what it regards as US interference in Arab affairs.

But the vehemence with which the Egyptian top diplomat expressed his concerns came during a period of unusually tense relations with the Bush administration, the paper said. President Hosni Mubarak proposed amending Egypt's constitution to allow multi-candidate elections, the Post said.

Bush made his own suggestions on Tuesday: "Like all free elections, these require freedom of assembly, multiple candidates, free access by those candidates to the media and the right to form political parties. "

Previous Stories:
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  US forces to be reduced to pre-election level   (2/25/2005)
  Egypt, US step closer to free trade negotiations   (2/10/2005)
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