US President George W. Bush this evening challenged Iran and Syria and even key US ally Egypt to adopt democracy and declared past policy of supporting non-democratic Arab leaders a failure.
Calling for democracy throughout the Middle East, Mr Bush said in a sweeping foreign policy speech: "Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? ... I, for one, do not believe it."
Speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy, where President Ronald Reagan spoke on global democracy 20 years ago, Mr Bush said US policy spanning 60 years in support of governments not devoted to political freedom had failed and Washington had adopted a new, "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East."
"Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe, because in the long run stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty," Mr Bush said.
Mr Bush did not say what measures the US might take to prod Middle Eastern nations toward democratic reform. Egypt, for example, receives $2 billion a year in assistance but there was no sign the White House was prepared to reduce such aid as an incentive.
Washington has for decades supported authoritarian governments throughout much of the Muslim world, including Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt, that are seen by many of their own citizens as corrupt and illegitimate in both political and religious terms.
This support, in turn, has aggravated anti-American sentiment in the region, with opposition groups saying withdrawal of US backing would open the way to popular, democratic change.
It was Mr Bush's latest attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq as necessary to foster democracy in the region at a time when he is under fire for mounting US troop casualties.