Bush insists Iran biggest terror sponsor

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Bush insists Iran biggest terror sponsor

Jan. 14, 2008, 12:17AM

By TERENCE HUNT AP White House Correspondent

© 2008 The Associated Press

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — President Bush gently nudged

authoritarian Arab allies Sunday to satisfy frustrated desires for

democracy in the Mideast and saved his harshest criticism for Iran,

branding it " the world's leading state-sponsor of terror. "

Speaking in this Persian Gulf country, about 150 miles from the

shores of Iran, Bush said Tehran threatens nations everywhere and

that the United States was " rallying friends around the world to

confront this danger before it is too late. "

The warning about Iran was much tougher than Bush's admonition about

spreading democracy in the Middle East, which had been billed as the

central theme of his speech.

In a region of autocratic rulers, Bush did not single out any country

for criticism. He spoke about democracy in a deeply undemocratic

country, the United Arab Emirates, where an elite of royal rulers

makes virtually all the decisions. Large numbers of foreign resident

workers have few legal or human rights, including no right to protest

working conditions.

" To the people of the Middle East: We hear your cries for justice, "

Bush said. " We share your desire for a free and prosperous future.

And as you struggle to find your voice and make your way in this

world, the United States will stand with you. "

Usually averse to sightseeing, Bush rode out into the sand dunes to

the desert encampment of Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed Bin

Zayed Al Nahyan. He let Bush hold one of his prize falcons. Later,

Bush returned to his suite in the opulent Emirates Palace Hotel,

constructed at a cost of more than $3 billion and reputed to be the

most expensive hotel ever built.

Bush resumed his agenda Monday by viewing a cultural exhibit and

visiting business leaders in Abu Dhabi. At an exhibit on energy

economy in the Gulf, Bush praised the United Arab Emirates federation

for examining how to move beyond a reliance on oil.

" It's amazing, isn't it? " Bush said. " This country got its wealth

from the ground, and it is now reinvesting in alternative forms of

energy. "

The president was then flying to Dubai, the booming Persian Gulf city-

state, for a day of meetings.

Later, his eight-day Mideast journey would shift to Saudi Arabia. Its

ruler, King Abdullah, has tried to push some reforms on education and

women's rights, and there have been limited municipal council

elections. But he has been cautious and limited in his efforts,

apparently hampered by others in the royal family worried that fast

changes could upset the country's conservative clerics and citizens.

In Egypt, the last country Bush planned to visit, the democracy

effort has stalled badly. The opposition candidate, Ayman Nour, who

ran against longtime President Hosni Mubarak in the first multiparty

elections, remains jailed on what many critics view as trumped-up

criminal fraud charges.

Apparently referring to Egypt, Bush said, " Unfortunately, amid some

steps forward in this region we've also seen some setbacks. You

cannot build trust when you hold an election where opposition

candidates find themselves harassed or in prison. "

Bush cast the broader campaign for democracy in terms of the battle

against terrorism, saying there was a desire for freedom from

terrorism, oppression and injustice. " We see this desire in the

ordinary people across the Middle East, who are sick of violence, who

are sick of corruption, sick of empty promises — and who choose a

free future whenever they are given a chance. "

Bush praised some democratic reforms in Arab countries. He urged

leaders to show support for the fragile Iraqi government, open their

societies and provide backing, and possible money, to help make an

Israeli-Palestinian agreement stick.

" Leaders on both sides still have many tough decisions ahead, and

they will need to back these decisions with real commitments, " Bush

said. " But the time has come for a holy land where Palestinians and

Israelis live together in peace. "

Bush's blistering words about Iran appeared intended to reassure Arab

allies about U.S. readiness to confront Tehran. There have been

doubts about Washington's intentions because of a new U.S.

intelligence report that said Iran had stopped pursuing nuclear

weapons in 2003.

Bush appeared to put the danger posed by Iran on par with that from

al-Qaida, which the U.S. national intelligence director, Mike

McConnell has said is America's greatest threat.

" One cause of instability is the extremists supported and embodied by

the regime that sits in Tehran, " Bush said. " Iran is today the

world's leading state sponsor of terror.

Bush said Iran funds militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and

Islamic Jihad and sends arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Shiite

extremists in Iraq. " The other major cause of instability is the

extremists embodied by al-Qaida and its affiliates, " he said.

His words brought a stern response from Iran's foreign minister,

Manouchehr Mottaki, to end what he called U.S. meddling.

" Mr. Bush has tried unsuccessfully to undermine our relations with

the countries of the region. We believe his mission has totally

failed. We have making strides in building ties with the region,

politically, economically and even in security, " Mottaki told the

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. " It is much better if the

Americans had stopped intervening in the region's affair. "

Also Sunday, the U.S. focused new attention on the Jan. 6

confrontation between American and Iranian naval vessels in the

Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Vice Adm. Cosgriff, commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th

Fleet, which patrols the Gulf, briefed Bush on the incident before

the president left Bahrain on Sunday morning.

Cosgriff told Bush that he took it " deadly seriously " when an Iranian

fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a

three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters. The Iranian

naval forces vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing

to open fire.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said that " all the military

people remember what happened in the past, such as the USS Cole. "

Seventeen American sailors were killed in a terrorist attack on the

USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.

___

Associated Press writer Sally Buzbee in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to

this report.