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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush opens new rift over Middle East plan:

"Attempts by President George Bush to exploit the diplomatic triumph of the United Nations resolution on Iraq were last night running into stiff opposition at the G8 summit, as France joined Arab countries in deriding the White House plans for a greater Middle East initiative.

Buoyed by the 15-0 UN security council vote, Mr Bush and Tony Blair were seeking a three-pronged follow-up that would involve greater Nato involvement in Iraq, plans to bring western-style democracy and economic reform to the Middle East and north Africa and a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain and the US believed the UN show of international unity could mark the end of the west's year-long schism and draw a close to a turbulent period in which the two leaders have been dogged by violent insurrection and allegations of torture in Iraq.

"After almost two months of rough news, we had finally had a series of significant moves forward on the political side," said a senior Bush administration official.

But the tensions between the US and Europe resurfaced at the G8 summit of industrial countries in Sea Island, Georgia, when the French president, Jacques Chirac, said that greater Nato involvement in Iraq would be neither "timely nor well understood".....

Mr Bush yesterday presented a watered down version of his plan to stabilise the region to the handful of Arab leaders that accepted invitations to attend a G8 summit for the first time. The most feted was Iraq's newly appointed prime minister, Ayad Allawi, who was praised by Mr Bush for 'having the courage to stand up and lead'.

Turkey and Jordan were broadly supportive of the plan. But leading Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Egypt snubbed the event to protest what they view as heavy-handed US attempts to impose western values on their cultures.

Mr Bush's plan pushes for reforms such as free elections, independent media and improved legal systems. The plan includes training for judges and lawyers, loans to small businesses and campaigns to reduce illiteracy by 20 million people. It sets a target for training 100,000 teachers.

Sensitive to Arab critics, the statement noted that 'successful reform depends on the countries in the region and change should not and cannot be imposed from outside'.

But Mr Chirac was also dismissive of Mr Bush's initiative. 'There is no ready-made formula for democracy readily transposable from one country to another. Democracy is not a method, it is a culture. For democracy to take root solidly and durably in the Arab world, it must be an Arab democracy before all else.'"

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