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Article: After the war: caution, hope; can Muslim world respect rights? (Commentary).(Bush administration's hope for the Middle East)
- Article from:
- Los Angeles Business Journal
- Article date:
- April 14, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 CBJ, L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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LEAVING aside the "blood for oil" slander made by its severest critics, the Bush administration has been clear about its ultimate aspiration for the Middle East: a Muslim world that is open, progressive, capitalist and democratic.
The goal has met with some skepticism in the West, and President Bush has been equally emphatic in rebutting the doubters, as he did in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute on the eve of the invasion of Iraq.
"There was a time when many said that the cultures of Japan and Germany were incapable of sustaining democratic values," Bush said. 'They were wrong. Some say the same of Iraq today. They are mistaken."
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