SOUTH PORTLAND – At a time when American foreign policy is perceived contemptuously by many foreign governments, former Maine Sen. George J. Mitchell said the country’s historic dedication to freedom and equality continues to set the standard by which other nations are judged.

“The fundamental strength of the United States lies in its ideals,” Mitchell said Friday evening at the 10th anniversary dinner for the Maine Center for Economic Policy. “It is ideals that attract others to America. It is ideals that give us moral authority around the world. It is ideals that will sustain in the difficult period ahead.”

Speaking to about 250 MCEP guests at the Marriott Sable Oaks Hotel, Mitchell said he had the opportunity to confer with many European heads of state while serving as chairman of the peace negotiations mission in Northern Ireland and as chairman of the International Fact Finding Committee on Violence in the Middle East under President Clinton.

In the aftermath of the withdrawal of military forces by the former Soviet Union, Mitchell said he asked every leader whether they thought the United States should also recall its military forces from foreign bases.

“Without exception, every single European leader answered immediately and emphatically no,” Mitchell said. “Europeans want American military forces on their soil.”

While American influence in the world may be measured by its military and economic power, Mitchell said that the principles embraced by the framers of the United States Constitution continue to serve as a source of inspiration to peoples everywhere.

“I ask you and all Americans to never forget that the United States was a great nation long before it was a great military or economic power,” he said. “This was a great nation from the time of its founding because it was ennobled by the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”

The MCEP is an advocacy group dedicated to providing information to Maine public policy makers that advances economic security, progressive tax policy and sustainable development in the state.

Mitchell credited Kit St. John, MCEP executive director and organization founder, for promoting ideas based on sound information and knowledge.

The current chairman of the Walt Disney Co. board of directors, Mitchell said the MCEP has been at the forefront of the institutions and individuals providing the information for informed and reasonable judgments.

In a veiled swipe at President Bush, the former Senate majority leader told the largely Democratic crowd that people need to make up their minds on the “basis of knowledge, not disinformation.”

“And if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past two years in this country is that there has been insufficient debate on important public policy issues and insufficient information,” he said. “There has been a surplus of misinformation and the absence of real facts on which the public can base their decisions.”