Bush: Iraq Is Key to Mideast

President Bush linked his effort to disarm Iraq to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wednesday, arguing that deposing Saddam Hussein is the best way to bring peace not only to Iraq but also to the entire Middle East.

Answering critics who say he has been obsessed with Iraq at the expense of finding a way to end the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, the president suggested that Hussein is a major source of financing for suicide bombers and that the Iraqi leader’s ouster would significantly reduce the violence.

“Success in Iraq could also begin a new stage for Middle Eastern peace and set in motion progress toward a truly democratic Palestinian state,” the president said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative public policy center.

“The passing of Saddam Hussein’s regime will deprive terrorist networks of a wealthy patron that pays for terrorist training and offers rewards to families of suicide bombers,” he said. “And other regimes will be given a clear warning that support for terror will not be tolerated.”

The speech was designed to counter criticism at home and abroad that Bush has not laid out a clear plan for a post-Hussein Iraq or a post-Hussein Middle East.

It was also part of Bush’s effort to personally sway U.N. Security Council members that are on the fence about a new U.S.-sponsored resolution on disarming Iraq that is expected to come to a vote in March.

Bush spoke even as Hussein made his own pitch to the American people in an interview with Dan Rather that aired Wednesday night on CBS. Hussein denied possessing any banned weapons and insisted that both he and Iraq are innocent victims of U.S. aggression.

In his comments, Bush said that deposing Hussein would serve as an inspiration for those in the Middle East who seek democracy and a warning for those who promote terrorism.

“The current Iraqi regime has shown the power of tyranny to spread discord and violence in the Middle East,” he said. “A liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region, by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions.”

The Bush administration has said that peace between Israel and the Palestinians will not be possible until the current Palestinian leadership steps aside. Bush reiterated that point Wednesday, suggesting that Hussein’s gifts to the families of suicide bombers are keeping Palestinian leaders in place.

“Without this outside support for terrorism, Palestinians who are working for reform and long for democracy will be in a better position to choose new leaders ... “ Bush asserted. “A Palestinian state must be a reformed and peaceful state that abandons forever the use of terror.”

The president said he would be personally committed to making peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but he did not provide a timetable or say when the expected U.S. peace proposal -- a three-year “road map” to create a Palestinian state -- will be unveiled.

Dennis B. Ross, who served as special envoy to the region under President Clinton, said he agreed that deposing Hussein could marginally improve the outlook for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but that it was unlikely on its own to create a breakthrough.

“When Saddam Hussein goes, you will still have the basic grievances that need to be addressed,” he said. “We didn’t come very close to an agreement [in 2000] and then not succeed because of Saddam Hussein.”

Ross said the main promoters of terrorism among Palestinians are Syria and Iran, not Iraq.

“One has to be careful about the suggestion that Saddam Hussein’s going means peace is imminent between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.

The president did not make any immediate demands Wednesday on Israel, saying only that down the road, “settlement activity” must end.

“For its part, the new government of Israel -- as the terror threat is removed and security improves -- will be expected to support the creation of a viable Palestinian state and to work as quickly as possible toward a final status agreement,” the president said. “As progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied territories must end.”

Rashid Khalidi, a Mideast expert at the University of Chicago, said the speech was unlikely to sway Palestinians and their supporters, who are angry about U.S. backing for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his policies of military crackdown and further settlement of Palestinian territories.

“The administration’s actions don’t seem to jibe with the president’s words,” Khalidi said. “The divergence is getting greater between pious wishes and actual action on the ground.”

The notion that winning a war against Iraq could promote Mideast peace is not a new idea. As president, Bush’s father suggested the same thing after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, recalled Judith Kipper, director of the Middle East Forum at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The elder Bush called a peace conference in Madrid, she said, but made little headway.

“There was a changed atmosphere, but the issues remained intractable,” Kipper said. “Without a persuasive, direct, consistent, forceful intervention by the United States, I don’t think the issues are going to be more negotiable after a war with Iraq than they have been all these years.”

The speech was something of a departure for Bush, who rarely engages publicly with his critics or responds to their arguments.

The president also tried to allay fears around the world that the United States would either conduct a long military occupation of Iraq or neglect the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people.

He pledged that the United States would not just drop bombs on Iraq but would provide food and other humanitarian assistance as soon as possible. He promised that the Iraqi people would choose their own form of government.

And making a comparison to U.S. rebuilding efforts in Europe after World War II, Bush said the United States would stay in Iraq as long as necessary to bring security “and not a day more.”

“America has made and kept this kind of commitment before -- in the peace that followed a world war,” Bush said. “After defeating enemies, we did not leave behind occupying armies -- we left constitutions and parliaments. We established an atmosphere of safety, in which responsible, reform-minded local leaders could build lasting institutions of freedom. In societies that once bred fascism and militarism, liberty found a permanent home.

“There was a time when many said that the cultures of Japan and Germany were incapable of sustaining democratic values. Well, they were wrong. Some say the same of Iraq today. They are mistaken.”

The Bush administration is trying to persuade a majority of U.N. Security Council members to back a second resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

In Washington, Bush continued his personal diplomacy, meeting with Azerbaijani President Heydar A. Aliyev, telephoning Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy and consulting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Canada has proposed setting a deadline at the end of March for Iraq to fulfill U.N. disarmament demands. The Bush administration responded coolly to the plan.

“The president believes that the resolution that the United States, the U.K. and Spain have proposed is the right way to go,” White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said.