By DPA
Washington : US President George W. Bush has warned that a US withdrawal from the Middle East would hand control of the region to Islamic extremists and embolden Iran.
“The region would be dramatically transformed in a way that could imperil the civilized world,” Bush said to the American Legion, a veterans group, in Reno, Nevada.
Bush’s speech was his latest attempt to win back public support for the unpopular war in Iraq. Bush said a US failure in Iraq would embolden terrorists and open the door for dangerous regimes like the one in Iran to expand its influence.
“Terrorists could have more safe havens to conduct attacks on Americans and our friends and allies,” Bush said.
Bush lashed out at Iran, accusing it of training and supplying weapons to militants responsible for attacking US soldiers in Iraq, supporting terrorist groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, and pursing nuclear weapons.
If the US left the Middle East, “Iran could conclude that we were weak and could not stop them from gaining nuclear weapons,” Bush said. “And once Iran had nuclear weapons, it would set off a nuclear arms race in the region.”
Bush’s speech comes just weeks before the US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, and his top military commander, General David Petraeus, are due to issue their assessment of the political and security situation in Iraq.
Bush has had to defend Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki amid growing calls in the US for him to be replaced. Senator Hillary Clinton, a presidential candidate, and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, argue that al-Maliki has proven he is incapable of governing the country and bring reconciliation between Iraqi fractious religious and ethnic groups.
Al-Maliki said in remarks over the weekend that the two senators should “come to their senses”.