Rudi Giuliani

Former Mayor of New York City Rudi Giuliani, whose cool handling of the September 11th tragedy won the admiration of the world, joined the line-up of speakers for this week's Leaders in Dubai conference.

Now spoken of as a possible successor to George W. Bush as US President, Giuliani is a life-long Republican and what he has to say is very representative of the thinking of the US government elite these days. However, he feels that US policy in the Middle East is being widely misunderstood.

'Any movement towards democracy in the Middle East is a good thing,' he told AME Info in a backstage roundtable discussion. 'But the most important thing is to create accountability, and democracy is not the only way to create accountability.

'Indeed democracy does not always create accountability either. The Soviet Union held elections but its government was not really accountable. On the other hand, China is not a democracy but by allowing private enterprise and private property, the Chinese government has become more accountable.

'It is the same for business in the United States. After the Enron and WorldCom crashes there is a trend towards transparency so that CEOs are more like Mayors and are being held accountable for their actions. This is a very real issue in the US'.

Mayor Giuliani appeared highly impressed with the development of Dubai and its proactive government. Did this then fit with his model of the need for greater accountability between governments and the people in the Middle East, even if it fell short of democracy?

'Yes, I would say Dubai is at that point, and I hope it continues and leads on to a form of participatory government. Accountable government takes responsibility for its people, provides sufficient healthcare, education and better levels of human rights. The next stage is a participatory element but that might take one or two generations.'

So is this part of the modern US role in the Middle East: the promotion of accountable government and democracy?

'The US role in the region is precisely that. This is what America stands for. We will only act by military means if under grave threat or in self-defense, and hopefully that means very rarely.'

The Mayor of New York at the time of 9/11 said he thought there was a 'significant hope' of a peaceful solution to outstanding issues in Iran and North Korea, and felt that there was 'new hope' for a lasting Palestinian settlement now that Yasser Arafat was dead, and that the election of a 'responsible government would end terror'.

On the 9/11 tragedy itself, Giuliani was very keen to express his opinion that this was 'not an act of the Arab world but an act by a group of people, and not representative of an ethnic or religious group'.

He added, 'I come from New York City where we have worked to get beyond prejudice towards shared visions and values, and that is the way I feel towards the Arab world.'

Meantime, Giuliani said doing business together and a greater flow of trade between the Middle East and the US was probably the best way of 'seeing similarities rather than differences'.