"Countries like Iraq and Afghanistan will be models for the broader Middle East region, where millions of people have been denied basic human rights and simple justice," US President George Bush said in his address to the 59th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

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Bush said that for too long many nations, including the US, have tolerated - even excused - oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. While oppression had become commonplace, stability had never come, he said.

"We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East in the war for freedom and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations," he said.

In a speech that was seen as having a novel approach to the Middle East, Bush said that the commitment to democratic reform is essential to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

He said that Palestinian rulers who intimidate the opposition and maintain ties with terrorist groups will not achieve peace.

In an oblique reference to Arafat, he said the Palestinian people deserve true leaders who can create and govern a free and peaceful Palestinian state.

In another reference, apparently to the new regime in Iraq, Bush said that finding the full promise of representative democracy takes time, and freedom is finding its way into both Iraq and Afghanistan. "We must continue to show our commitment to democracy in those nations," Bush said.

He said the scheduled election in Afghanistan next month showed that Muslim societies can also be democratic. More than 10 million Afghan citizens, including 4 million women, are slated to vote in next month's presidential election there, he said.

"To anyone who would question whether Muslim societies can be democratic societies, the Afghan people are giving their answer."

His speech came after one by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in which Annan, in a comment that appeared squarely directed at the US, spoke of the 'shameless' disregard for the rule of law around the globe and the need for every nation to be subject to it.