Bush defends his record in Mideast
The president tells a forum that he is leaving the region a 'freer, more hopeful and more promising place.' But many experts don't share his optimism and say President Obama will face a perilous situation.
Reporting from Washington — In a sweeping defense of his record, President Bush asserted Friday that his administration is leaving the Middle East a "freer, more hopeful and more promising place" than when he took office.
Bush said his administration is close to success in Iraq, has moved to counter Iran's nuclear program, and has "laid a foundation of trust" between Israelis and Palestinians.
"At long last, the Middle East is closing a chapter of darkness and fear, and opening one written in the language of possibility and hope," Bush said in remarks to the Saban Forum in Washington, according to a transcript released by the White House.
The assessment comes six weeks from the end of a presidency that Bush's team would like to portray as more successful than widely believed. But some experts don't share Bush's optimism.
"The net effect is an impression left by the Bush administration that the United States is unable to deliver and that when it tries, it tends to make matters worse," wrote two experts, Martin S. Indyk, director of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, and Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in a book released before the forum that Bush addressed.
The two veteran diplomats wrote that the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama confronts a perilous situation in the Middle East.
"Iran's pursuit of nuclear capability and regional dominance, a strained U.S. military tied down in Iraq, a war that is going badly in Afghanistan, hostility toward U.S. involvement in the region -- all create a dangerous, complicated and urgent policy environment," they wrote.
Bush said economic and political reforms are advancing across the region.
"There are still serious challenges facing the Middle East," he said. "Yet the changes of the past eight years herald the beginning of something historic and new."
He said his administration refused to take the "easy option" of installing a friendly strongman when the invasion toppled Iraq President Saddam Hussein.
Instead, he said, the U.S. supported Iraqis as they "elected their own leaders and built a young democracy."
A U.S.-Iraqi security agreement sets "a framework for the drawdown of American forces as the fight in Iraq nears a successful end," he said.
He acknowledged that the Iraq war -- which began in March 2003 and has cost more than $650 billion -- has been longer and more costly than he expected.
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- Europe Sees Bush as Uncertain Blessing Aug 02, 2000
