Bush urges ME states to embrace democracy

"As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment, and violence ready for export," Bush said Thursday in a forth-right speech to the National Endowment for Democracy.

He also warned that it was imperative to rebuild war-ravaged Iraq and transform it into a democracy after the fall of president Saddam Hussein.

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"We know the stakes: The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world and increase dangers to the American people and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region," he warned.

"Success will send forth the news from Damascus to Tehran that freedom can be the future of every nation."

After praising nations like Bahrain, Morocco, and Oman for embracing reforms, the US leader scolded Iran -- which he once labelled part of 'an axis of evil' along with North Korea and Iraq -- and warned its leadership must follow suit or "lose its last claim to legitimacy."

He also prodded staunch US ally Egypt, saying it "should show the way toward democracy in the Middle East," and urged another US ally, Saudi Arabia, to "demonstrate true leadership" by seeking reforms.

But the president's remarks stretched beyond the Middle East, as he declared that the US "commitment to democracy is tested in Cuba and Burma and North Korea and Zimbabwe -- outposts of oppression in our world."

He also cited China, saying: "That nation now has a sliver, a fragment of liberty. Yet, China's people will eventually want theiity "for decades to come".

"And the Palestinian leaders who block and undermine democratic reform, and feed hatred and encourage violence are not leaders at all. They're the main obstacles to peace, and to the success of the Palestinian people."