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<font size=3><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F9877050-D084-4F9E-91FE-0FB25B54B226.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F9877050-D084-4F9E-91FE-0FB25B54B226.htm<br>
</a>Arabs wary of Bush's 'freedom' speech<br>
by <br>
Friday 21 January 2005 3:43 PM GMT <br><br>
<br>
<b>George Bush's pledge to spread liberty around the globe has earned a
frosty reception in the Arab world, with observers dismissing as hollow
rhetoric his insistence on promoting freedom. <br><br>
</b>On Friday analysts warned that the US president's ambition to promote
democracy would only be regarded with suspicion in the Middle East so
long as Iraq is plagued by violence after the US-led invasion. <br><br>
<br><br>
An Arab professor of political science drew parallels between the words
of Bush and Usama bin Ladin, saying the president had made the word
freedom banal in the same way as the al-Qaida leader had the word jihad.
<br><br>
<br><br>
"The two men have both invoked their favourite concepts without ever
putting them into practice," Assad Abu Khalil, who works in the
United States, told Aljazeera. <br><br>
<br><br>
<b>Simplistic solutions<br><br>
</b> <br><br>
He said Bush's notion of freedom as the solution is just as simplistic as
the belief of Islamists that Islam is the solution in a region largely
ruled by totalitarian regimes that reject religious extremism. <br><br>
<br><br>
"By wanting to explain all through freedom, Bush ends up explaining
nothing. We need to see how the idea of liberty can be translated into
effective policies," he said. <br><br>
<br><br>
"The export of democracy is in no way a military operation."
<br><br>
<br><br>
In a speech marking his inauguration on Thursday to a second, four-year
term, Bush said the United States would support the growth of democracy
"with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our
world".<br><br>
<br><br>
"We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The
survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of
liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the
expansion of freedom in all the world." <br><br>
<br><br>
He did not name any countries specifically – not even Iraq - but Vice
President Dick Cheney told US media that Iran was "right at the top
of the list" of trouble spots. <br><br>
<br><br>
<b>Liberty<br><br>
</b> <br>
Egyptian writer and analyst Abd al-Karim al-Karimi said Bush's lavish
"coronation ceremony" was a throwback to the colonial era and
lambasted the president's address for promoting "democracy without
content". <br><br>
<br><br>
"All the world talks about liberty, but what liberty is it? What is
the meaning of the democracy and the political liberties that the United
States wants to impose in the Middle East. Bush does not say," he
told Egyptian television.<br><br>
<br><br>
For Iraqi analyst Abd al-Hussain Shaaban the US administration has lost
its credibility to promote democracy after launching an invasion of Iraq
that two years on has left the country lacking the most basic security.
<br><br>
<br><br>
"The United States is closing its eyes towards dictators who serve
its own interests but attacks those that damage it," he added, in a
reference to key US ally Saudi Arabia. <br><br>
<br><br>
"The fact that Iraq is in chaos and under military occupation does
not bode well for democracy coming to the country and to the Middle
East." <br><br>
<b>Aljazeera + Agencies<br>
By <br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F9877050-D084-4F9E-91FE-0FB25B54B226.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F9877050-D084-4F9E-91FE-0FB25B54B226.htm</a>
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