Lebanon crisis is part of broader struggle

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) US President George W Bush today cast the Lebanon war as part of a broader struggle against terrorism and said a strategy to end the violence there must address the threat posed by Hizbollah.

Amid mounting concern over civilian casualties in the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed to Israel to discuss the terms of a proposal for a UN Security Council resolution calling for a negotiated truce.

A day after Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced they would try to offer the resolution next week, Bush used his weekly radio broadcast to highlight his goals.

''As we work to resolve this current crisis, we must recognize that Lebanon is the latest flashpoint in a broader struggle between freedom and terror that is unfolding across the region,'' Bush said.

Bush and Blair agreed that a multinational force for Lebanon should be formed quickly to help speed delivery of aid to thousands of displaced Lebanese and help stabilize the border.

''We will work with our allies to adopt a resolution that establishes a framework to end the violence quickly, and mandates the multinational force,'' he said.

''This approach will demonstrate the international community's determination to support the government of Lebanon, and defeat the threat from Hizbollah and its foreign sponsors.'' At least 462 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict erupted on July 12 when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Hizbollah, which wants to swap the soldiers for Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, has killed 51 Israelis, 18 of them civilians hit by rockets fired into the Jewish state.

Bush blames the violence on Hizbollah and its foreign sponsors Iran and Syria.

But the crisis, coming amid an escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq, has put Bush on the defensive about his foreign policy agenda of trying to spread freedom in the Middle East.

Bush's approach to the Middle East came under criticism in the Democratic response to his radio address.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, said the administration might have been able to handle the Israel-Lebanon crisis more effectively if it had a West Asia envoy in place.

''If we would have had a permanent West Asia envoy in the region, we would have been in a better position to disarm Hizbollah and protect Israel, and implement a concurrent cease-fire along with a legitimate, international peacekeeping force on the ground,'' Richardson said in the Democratic radio address.

Richardson also said the administration had proven inept at diplomacy. He faulted, among other things, the policy in Iraq where ''waves of bloody violence push the country toward civil war'' with no end in sight.

Bush cited Iraq in the radio address and repeated his goal of establishing a democracy ''in the heart of the West Asia.'' In Lebanon, he said ridding the country of ''terrorists and foreign influence'' would eventually bring about a better life there.

''This moment of conflict in the West Asia is painful and tragic,'' Bush said. ''Yet it is also a moment of opportunity for broader change in the region.'' REUTERS SKU ND2134