Rhetoric of Reform Discomfits the Mideast

BAGHDAD — As a senior policymaker in Iraq's foreign ministry, Lebeed Abbawi has a tough job building good relations with suspicious and uneasy neighbors.

President Bush's rhetoric doesn't make it any easier.

In fact, Bush's frequent message that Iraq's democratic experiment is a model for spreading freedom throughout the Middle East is a sound bite that makes Abbawi cringe.

"This is what scares them," Abbawi said, referring to growing fears among Iraq's neighbors that the U.S.-backed government is out to subvert the authoritarian regimes around it. "It's been a problem we've faced from the start. The truth is, we don't want to export our model to anybody."

Abbawi's problem is part of a larger dilemma, both for the Iraqis struggling to build a new democratic state and for the United States, which has invested so much to make it happen: The more Washington promotes Iraq's transformation as a key step in a political overhaul of the entire region, the more it undercuts the fledgling government the administration so wants to help.

Moreover, the three examples the administration cites for holding democratic elections across the Middle East and on its fringes are the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and Iraq -- all violent areas whose security depends on thousands of outside troops.

Arab reformers fret about a danger that extends beyond Iraq -- that the very word "democracy" could become tarnished if seen as a euphemism for meddling by Americans or others whose backgrounds, values or religious beliefs clash with those of the region.

Hamid Shehab, head of international studies at Baghdad University's College of Political Science, said he believed Iraq would reject both religious extremism and theocratic government and thus could become a useful model for democracy in the region. But he said comments by leading American figures would probably diminish the chances of that occurring.

"Those in power in the region are suspicious," he said.

Bush's State of the Union speech was carefully worded to prod friendly Middle Eastern regimes to democratize. The president said "hopeful reform" was occurring "from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain."

But such praise from the United States can be a liability, both for government leaders and for those not in power who are pushing for change.