BY YASEMIN CONGAR
MILLIYET- Columnist Yasemin Congar writes on US President George W. Bush’s Nov. 6 address last week to the National Endowment for Democracy. A summary of her column is as follows:
The speech delivered by US President George W. Bush on Nov. 6 was important. Bush last week addressed the National Endowment for Democracy to mark the 20th anniversary of the organization, which devotes itself to promoting democratization movements throughout the world. ‘Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe,’ said Bush. ‘Because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.’ He accepted that decades of US policies condoning oppressive regimes in the region for years for the sake of stability had failed. He asked the world to consider his current Iraq policy as part of a new US strategy.
While the White House trumpeted his speech as ‘historic,’ certain opposition circles argued that Bush’s attempt to justify his Iraq policy was unconvincing. It’s true that there are many points over which we can criticize the Bush administration. However, this doesn’t change the fact that Bush’s address made significant new remarks on the Middle East. ‘The message is right, but the messenger was wrong,’ one can say. If so, we should embrace the message, but at the same time, keep a close eye on the messenger to check whether he keeps his promises.
Bush added that he did not believe that Islam and democracy were incompatible, saying, ‘I believe every person has the ability and the right to be free.’ These words will be tested in Iraq and other troubled countries in the region. Will Iraq manage to establish its own democracy? Will Washington provide the Iraqi people with the necessary political autonomy to do so?
As a matter of fact, considering developments in the postwar period, the Bush administration currently seems to be faltering, making contradictory moves and statements on Iraq. Let’s recall the deployment issue. Washington first asked for our soldiers but then failed to establish the necessary conditions to allow the deployment. Since recent developments in the region show that Washington’s plans have failed one by one, Bush’s credibility is very likely to be questioned harsher than ever.
In order to change his international image as the ‘bad messenger of a correct message,’ Bush should take more effective measures to jump-start Iraqi democracy. Otherwise he will lose his credibility completely. Washington should not cut its spending on Iraq, and should not leave the region before safe conditions are established for founding a democracy. In the meantime, the Americans should also show that they have full respect for the political will of the Iraqi people.
This won’t be an easy test. Its results will be seen beyond Iraq, as Bush himself stated.