BUSH AIMS FOR 'GREATER MIDEAST' PLAN
Democracy Initiative To Be Aired at G-8 Talks
Informe
de Robin Wright and Glenn
Kessler en “The Washington Post” del 9-2-04.
The Bush administration has launched an ambitious bid to promote democracy in the "greater Middle East" that will adapt a model used to press for freedoms in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Senior
White House and State Department officials have begun talks with key European
allies about a master plan to be put forward this summer at summits of the Group
of Eight nations, NATO allies and the European Union, U.S. officials say. With
international backing, the United States then hopes to win commitments of action
from Middle Eastern and South Asian countries.
"It's
a sweeping change in the way we approach the Middle East," said a senior
State Department official. "We hope to roll out some of the principles for
reform in talks with the Europeans over the next few weeks, with specific ideas
of how to support them."
Details
are still being crafted. But the initiative, scheduled to be announced at the
G-8 summit hosted by President Bush at Sea Island, Ga., in June, would call for
Arab and South Asian governments to adopt major political reforms, be held
accountable on human rights -- particularly women's empowerment -- and introduce
economic reforms, U.S. and European officials said.
As
incentives for the targeted countries to cooperate, Western nations would offer
to expand political engagement, increase aid, facilitate membership in the World
Trade Organization and foster security arrangements, possibly some equivalent of
the Partnership for Peace with former Eastern Bloc countries.
Vice
President Cheney first hinted at the initiative last month in a speech at the
World Economic Forum in Switzerland. "Our forward strategy for freedom
commits us to support those who work and sacrifice for reform across the greater
Middle East," he said. "We call upon our democratic friends and allies
everywhere, and in Europe in particular, to join us in this effort."
The
U.S. approach is loosely modeled on the 1975 Helsinki accords signed by 35
nations, including the United States, the Soviet Union and almost all European
countries.
The
pact was designed to recognize disputed post-World War II borders and establish
a mechanism for settling other disagreements. But human rights and fundamental
freedoms became key parts of the treaty, giving the West leverage to promote and
protect dissident groups in the Soviet bloc and urge greater freedoms for its
residents.
Many
experts now regard Helsinki as one of the most influential international pacts
signed after World War II, and conservatives say it sped the demise of Eastern
Bloc communism.
"There
is a belief that [Helsinki] contributed to bringing Europe together and played a
significant role in tearing down the Soviet Union," a State Department
official said. "In the same way, this idea would tear down the
attractiveness of [Islamic] extremism."
Unlike
Helsinki, however, the administration's "Greater Middle East
Initiative" seeks to avoid creating committees and structures to strictly
monitor progress and issue report cards, U.S. officials say. It also seeks to
avoid appearing to dictate to the Islamic world.
"The
idea is not to come out with proposals that say, 'This is how the West thinks
you guys should live,' " a senior administration official said. "This
can't be seen as telling these guys what to do. That won't work. It is instead
about saying, 'We hear voices in the greater Middle East region who want
democracy and reform, and here are the things we can do to support them.' "
At
each of the three summits in June, the United States would like allies to agree
on principles of political, economic and security change -- many outlined by the
Arabs themselves in two U.N. Development Program reports -- and ways to enact
reforms. The G-8, NATO and U.S.-European Union would each focus on the issues
most relevant to its goals. The review process would then be built into
subsequent annual summits of the three alliances, U.S. officials say.
"The
key to all of this is to get the [Muslim] countries in question to feel
ownership in this process," a Danish diplomat said. The Danish and Canadian
governments have done serious work on the issue and are coming up with their own
draft proposals, U.S. and European officials say.
The
administration's general goal is to put meat on the bones of Bush's call for
political change throughout the Islamic world, outlined in two speeches last
fall at the National Endowment for Democracy and in London, U.S. officials say.
The
administration had originally pledged that ousting Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein and creating a Palestinian state would serve as catalysts for democracy.
But now that the Arab-Israeli peace process is deadlocked and Iraq's political
transition is in trouble, the United States is effectively leapfrogging both to
generate political change in the region, U.S. and European officials say.
The
Greater Middle East Initiative "projects the administration as looking
beyond immediate trouble spots to institutionalize a policy of change for the
region," said Shibley Telhami, a Brookings Institution fellow who consulted
with the administration on the proposal.
European
governments generally support the idea, but they have varying degrees of
skepticism about whether a Helsinki-like approach will work in the Middle East,
U.S. and European officials say. Key allies are concerned that any initiative
will be vulnerable because of sharp differences between the Middle East and the
former East Bloc. Moreover, Arab countries may find political change difficult,
and are more likely to be susceptible to Islamic movements, as long as the
Arab-Israeli conflict goes unresolved.
U.S.
officials counter that the initiative is not a substitute. "We think
progress on it will help the peace process, although some of the Europeans are
not convinced," said the senior State Department official.
"We
also expect to hear warnings of Islam emerging stronger in the region if
countries democratize," he added. "But we recognize the danger of too
rapid democratization. We want to see steady progress over a period of time --
and we want to build in checks in the system."
The
European Union is also cautious because of its long-standing dialogue with Arab
nations on the Mediterranean, which has had some success in reforming education
and health systems but marginal impact on politics.
"We
welcome the goal, but we want to see how the Americans plan to get there,"
a European envoy said. "We've been trying for a while, and efforts at
modernization don't easily seep through to politics."
A
well-placed U.S. official said European allies are concerned about "being
tarred with the U.S. brush if they cooperate" and fear the U.S. initiative
would become a "black hole that would suck everything else into it."
But he said the United States is trying to reassure them that "there's work
enough for everyone."
Since
late last year, the administration engaged in an increasing flurry of
discussions with both European and Islamic governments. This month, Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell discussed the initiative with the new NATO chief as well
as the French and Turkish foreign ministers. Assistant Secretary of State Beth
Jones held talks with European Union envoys in Dublin, where the U.S.-European
Union summit will be held in June, and national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice has briefed other European officials, U.S. sources say.
The
concept of promoting a "Middle East Helsinki" has long been discussed
in U.S. and European think tanks, but the administration's idea has received a
huge boost in recent weeks. Yesterday, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman
of the Foreign Relations Committee, gave a speech in Munich calling on NATO to
establish a partnership plan that would help Middle East militaries with tasks
such as peacekeeping, counterterrorism, military reform and civilian control of
the military.
Sen.
John Edwards (N.C.), a Democratic presidential candidate, said last month that
as president he would establish a Helsinki-type organization in the Middle East
that would "assist with civil society and political party development,
monitor elections and manage crises."