Securing freedom for Palestinians and Iraqis is one of the key foreign policy goals of President George W. Bush's second term, the White House said today. "Moving forward on advancing freedom and democracy in the Middle East is one of the cornerstones of his second-term agenda. We are moving forward to hold free and fair elections in Iraq at the end of January. We are also working to do whatever we can to help the Palestinian people hold elections on January 9th, and we want to make sure that those are free and fair elections, and we're there to assist them as they choose new leaders," spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We also are working to put in place a strategy to move forward on the institutions necessary for a viable Palestinian state to emerge. The president talked about this at length with [British] Prime Minister Blair when he was here … and they talked about how we can seize this opportunity," McClellan told reporters. "In his meeting today with [Jordan's] King Abdullah, the two leaders talked about the importance of seizing this opportunity that's before us and helping the Palestinian people as they move forward to build a viable state," McClellan said. Bush and Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yawar discussed the security situation at their White House meeting earlier today, McClellan stated. "President Ghazi Al-Yawar reiterated the commitment of the Iraqi people to move forward on elections on schedule. He said the Iraqi people want to vote because this will give them a chance to have an investment in their own future. It's an important milestone in moving toward a democratic state," McClellan said, adding that "moving forward on those elections will help defeat the ambitions" of terrorists in Iraq.
