Middle East will be an ally of US one day: Bush

New Delhi, Oct 31 : Recalling how one-time enemy Japan became an ally of the US, former US president George W. Bush Saturday expressed confidence that the Middle East would also go the same way one day.

Speaking at a leadership conclave organised here by the Hindustan Times, Bush recalled his conversation with then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi immediately after 9/11 when the latter said that Japan and the US will work together to fight the ideology of hatred and advance the cause of freedom.

Bush was struck by Koizumi's suggestion, which reminded him of his father (George Bush Senior) fighting against the Japanese forces after Japan invaded Pearl Harbour in 1941.

"Sixty years ago, Japan was an enemy. It is now an ally of the US. Democracy proved to be transformative; an enemy had become an ally," he said.

The same thing is going to happen in the Middle East, he said about a region that recorded a surge of anti-Americanism during the Bush presidency.

"The Middle East too will one day become an ally," said Bush, who is reviled in the Muslim world for his invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush also defended the war on Iraq and Afghanistan that created much hostility against the US in the Muslim world, saying they were essential to advance the cause of liberty in the world.

Responding to a question about his unpopularity in the Muslim world, Bush said he would appeal to Muslims not to let "the propagandists hijack their religion to murder innocent people".

"Please don't let the propagandists tell the people that George Bush and America hate you," Bush said.

"I hate people who hijack a great religion to murder innocent people," he said.