WASHINGTON, July 31 — President Bush described Israel’s battle with Hezbollah as part of a much wider struggle against terrorism today, as he once again embraced a pillar of his foreign policy: his faith in the power of democracy to bring peace to the region.
“The current crisis is part of a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror in the Middle East,” Mr. Bush said in a speech at the Coast Guard command center in Miami.
“For decades, the status quo in the Middle East permitted tyranny and terror to thrive,” the president said. “And as we saw on Sept. 11, the status quo in the Middle East led to death and destruction in the United States, and it had to change.”
Mr. Bush mourned the loss of “innocent life,” both in Israel and in Lebanon, where Israel’s attempts to subdue Hezbollah have killed scores of civilians. But he said, as he has repeatedly, that “Israel is exercising its right to defend itself,” and he said again that any cease-fire must be lasting.
In linking the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Bush sounded the same theme he has often embraced to describe the American-led campaign in Iraq: part of a struggle to root out hatred and tyranny and replace them with peace and democracy.
He repeated his insistence that the drive to plant democracy in lands where tyranny and terror have deep roots is pragmatic as well as idealistic. “This task is long; it is difficult work,” he said. “But it is necessary work.”
There was no immediate reaction to Mr. Bush’s speech here in the sweltering capital, with most members of Congress having gone home to campaign. Just before his speech, Mr. Bush toured the Port of Miami aboard a Coast Guard boat. He hailed the United Nations Security Council’s passage of a resolution giving Iran a month to suspend its uranium-enrichment program, or face sanctions, as “a common message, a unified message.”
The lectern from which Mr. Bush spoke had a small air-conditioning unit, enabling him to look cool and comfortable in the sunshine. The president was applauded repeatedly by an audience that included his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, when he ticked off staples of his domestic agenda: low taxes, free trade and general encouragement of the entrepreneurial spirit. The president carried Florida by a comfortable margin in the 2004 election, four years after capturing Florida’s electoral votes — and with them, the presidency — by a razor-thin margin.
“When democracy spreads in the Middle East, the people of that troubled region will have a better future, the terrorists will lose their safe havens and their recruits, and the United States of America will be more secure,” Mr. Bush said. “The hard work of helping people realize the benefits of liberty is laying the foundation of peace for generations to come.”
Mr. Bush was in Florida for a political fund-raising event. He delivered his speech as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was flying home from the Middle East after declaring that there was an “emerging consensus” for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah that could be reached this week.
But the president and his top aides have resisted pressure to call for an immediate cease-fire, and Mr. Bush made it clear today that he has not wavered. “She is working urgently to get a sustainable cease-fire, a cease-fire which will last,” Mr. Bush said of Ms. Rice. “We’re going to work with our allies to bring before the United Nations Security Council a resolution that will end the violence and lay the groundwork for lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Secretary Rice, when asked on the flight back to Washington whether the continued aerial operations over Lebanon contradicted Israel’s pledge to suspend strikes for 48 hours, seemed to accept Israel’s explanation. “The Israelis tell us that it’s close air support for their forces,” she said, according to a State Department transcript.
Ms. Rice said American diplomats had “sought clarification” from Israel on its aerial operations. And while not directly criticizing Israel for the deaths of several dozen Lebanese civilians in the town of Qana, she said the Israelis “have a very strong interest in investigating and reviewing procedures for the kind of strike that caused Qana.”
Mr. Bush said that for any peace to be lasting, the Lebanese government must have sole control over its own territory, and that a multinational force must be sent to Lebanon at once to help deliver humanitarian aid. Hezbollah now has both a political presence in the Lebanese government and a military presence in southern Lebanon, which it uses as a base to stage raids on neighboring Israel and rain rockets on its villages.
The president said that a lasting peace also depended on Iran’s ending
its financial and military support for terrorist groups, including Hezbollah,
and that Syria must end its support for terrorism and “respect the sovereignty
of Lebanon.” Syria has long exercised influence in Lebanese affairs and
had troops in Lebanon for many years.