Bush Sets New Course in the Mideast; Analysts Praise Directive on Democratization, but Some Wonder If Action Will Follow

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On Nov. 6, President Bush delivered a foreign policy speech in which he pledged the United States to the advancement of democracy in the Middle East and repudiated "60 years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East."

The speech delivered at the 20th anniversary of the nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy represented at least rhetorically a major departure from U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, a policy that historically had stability as its keystone rather than commitment to human rights or democracy. The strategy, said Bush, has not served the long-term interests of the United States because "stability cannot be purchased at the price of liberty."

Behind the News

Mideast scholars said the speech signaled a major formal change of U.S. policy in the region but added it remains to be seen whether the speech will be backed up by action. It should be viewed, they said, within the context of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"We need to understand that the president's speech is part and parcel of a major campaign on the part of the White House in order to respond to domestic criticisms about America's strategy in Iraq," said Fawaz Gerges, the Christian A. Johnson Chair in International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Sarah Lawrence College and the author of America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests? "The speech was informed by America's challenges in Iraq …