The Hindu : U.S. firm on democracy in Iraq: Bush

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003

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International

U.S. firm on democracy in Iraq: Bush

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON APRIL 29. The United States President, George W. Bush, has said that the United States will stand by Iraq until democracy flourishes in that country, but declined to discuss the specifics of the government and the nature of the political system that is being formed. "Day-by-day, hour-by-hour, life in Iraq is getting better," Mr. Bush told a boisterous crowd in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, home to thousands of Iraqi Americans, many of whom had supported the Republican candidate in November 2000.

Mr. Bush's address in Michigan was being carried live in several parts of the Arab world where deep suspicions remain about the U.S. "Iraq can be an example of peace and prosperity and freedom to the entire Middle East," the President argued, even as his spokesman brushed aside a question whether Mr. Bush was trying to mend fences with a community that is not totally in unison with the administration.

"It will be a hard journey, but at every step of the way, Iraq will have a steady friend in the American people," Mr. Bush said. The President, who has been at serious odds with the United Nations over Iraq in the last three months drew a strong ovation when he said that the sanctions would have to be lifted. At a meeting with Iraqi exiles, Mr. Bush brushed away a question on the shape of the new Iraqi government as the founder of the Kurdish National Congress of North America suggested that Iraq should be a Federation with three autonomous or semi-autonomous regions.

"We are not going to have a debate on the form of government. This debate is going to take place within Iraq," the President stressed. Mr. Bush, even while being careful not to discuss the specifics of government formation, was quite clear in what he expected to be the final outcome in Baghdad. "Whether you are Sunni or Shia or Kurd or Chaldean or Assyrian or Turkmen or Christian or Jew or Muslim, no matter what your faith, freedom is God's gift to every person in every nation," the President remarked.

The Bush administration has made it known that it will not sit idly by and see Iraq slip into a form of government that is patterned after Iran.

Senior officials here have stressed repeatedly in the last few days that while Islamic democracy in Iraq is possible, this cannot take the shape of a theocracy as in Iran.

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