BBC: Egypt scorns US 'democracy' claim

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4336193.stm

Egypt scorns US 'democracy' claim

Mr Aboul Gheit said Egypt will not bow to US pressure on reforms
Egypt has rebuffed President George W Bush's claim that democracy is fast gaining ground in the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the US is wrong to assume recent events vindicate its policies in the region.

"What model are we talking about in Iraq? Bombs are exploding everywhere and Iraqis are killed everyday," he said in a Washington Post interview.

Mr Bush says Palestinian and Iraqi polls and rallies in Lebanon signal a "thaw" for authoritarian regimes.

Mr Gheit also attacked the US for calling on Egypt to speed up reforms.
The pace at which Cairo moves towards democracy "will be set by Egypt and the Egyptian people and only the Egyptian people", he said.
"The Egyptian people will not accept what we call trusteeship."

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Bu$h is going to offend every country in the world at the rate he's going.

It would seem that the people in the Middle East are going to do the opposite of whatever he tells them he wants. If he simply keeps his mouth shut then maybe no massive pro-Syrian protest and no Egyptian foreign minister taking two steps backwards just to spite him. The Egyptian minister probably even has people cheering his statements because a lot of people there would rather tell Bush to take a flying leap than move toward democracy.