PRESIDENT BUSH hailed recent democratic advances across the Middle East yesterday, claiming that people- power in the Arab world had reached critical mass.

The absolute monarchies, autocracies and theocracies in the region had appeared frozen in time for decades, he said. But “clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun”.

Authoritarian rule was “the last gasp of a discredited past” as a “critical mass” of events took the region in a hopeful new direction, Mr Bush said. “History is moving quickly, and leaders in the Middle East have important choices to make.”

He issued tough new warnings to Syria and Iran to stop supporting terrorism and to curb their designs on Lebanon and Iraq. Failure to act would leave their regimes on the wrong side of history, he said.

Mr Bush, addressing the National Defence University in Washington but aiming his message as much at the Middle East as America, drew together the hopeful signs of reform in recent weeks in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. His sharpest message was reserved for Syria, which he accused of “delaying tactics” and dragging its feet about withdrawing its troops from Lebanon.

Speaking directly to the Lebanese people, Mr Bush said: “All the world is witnessing your great movement of conscience.” Lebanon’s future lay in the hands and courage of its people.

“The American people are on your side. Millions across the Earth are on your side. The momentum of freedom is on your side, and freedom will prevail in Lebanon.”

Iran’s ruling mullahs should listen to the concerns of the world and the voices of their people, Mr Bush said. He told Tehran bluntly to stay out of Iraq’s internal politics, saying that the writing of the new Iraqi constitution “must take place without external influence”.

Mr Bush vowed — as he did in his inauguration speech — to make the spread of democracy throughout the broader Middle East the hallmark of his second term.

Reaching for a Kennedyesque flourish, he said: “No matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult the task, we will fight the enemy and lift the shadow of fear and lead free nations to victory.”

He was careful not to claim personal credit for recent advances in the Middle East, or to suggest that the task of ushering in freedom was close to success.

However, he did say that his Administration had removed many al-Qaeda commanders and had cut the number of capitals sponsoring and harbouring terrorists, and he made clear that any regime seeking weapons of mass destruction would face “consequences”.

The speech, in which he called for “new thinking” in the region and European capitals, illustrated how Mr Bush’s thinking has developed. He used to play down the centrality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yesterday, however, he said that two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, were “the only outcome that will end the tyranny, danger, violence and hopelessness and meet the aspirations of all people in the region”.

Arab states had to end incitement in their media, cut off terrorist funding, curb extremism in schools and establish normal relations with Israel.

Israel had to freeze settlement activity, help Palestinians to build a thriving economy and withdraw from large areas of the West Bank to ensure that a Palestinian state was viable.

Palestinian leaders had to fight corruption, encourage free enterprise, rest true authority with their people and actively confront terrorist groups.

Mr Bush has also changed his tune on the causes of Islamic extremism.

After the September 11 attacks he regularly blamed “evil” for terrorism, but yesterday he pinned its cause on the social make-up of much of the region, vowing to end the “cycle of tyranny and despair and radicalism” that had imprisoned generations.

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