11/23/2002 - Updated 12:11 PM ET
Bush urges new NATO nations to fight terrorism
URL:http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-11-23-bush-lithuania_x.htm
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — In two nations once darkened by Nazi and Communist rule, President Bush vowed Saturday to defend hard-won freedoms behind the former Iron Curtain. He said fledgling NATO states must now help him defeat "new and terrible dangers" — terrorism and the Iraqi regime.
Bush waves to the crowd after speaking at the Piata Revolutie in Bucharest, Romania.
By Stephen Jaffe, AFP
"The world has suffered enough from fanatics who seek to impose their will through fear and murder," Bush told tens of thousands of Romanians massed at Revolution Square to celebrate their nation's newly christened NATO invitation.
"The NATO alliance and the civilized world are confronting the new enemies of freedom, and we will prevail," he said.
On a day of high drama and symbolism, the president spoke as a rainbow graced the sky across the site of the 1989 revolt that toppled communist rule. Revolution Square is also the place where late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu fled by helicopter from an angry mob.
Pointing to the former Communist Party headquarters, Bush said, "From that balcony, the dictator heard your voices and faltered and fled."
Bush began his day in Vilnius, Lithuania, another former Soviet bloc nation joining NATO — barely a decade after regaining its independence from Moscow.
As a golden morning light cast long shadows across Vilnius' crowded town square, Bush said, "The long night of fear, uncertainty and loneliness is over."
It was the emotional highlight of the president's five-day, four-nation European trip that ended Saturday. At every stop, he pointed to the historic NATO expansion — on Thursday its 19 members invited Lithuania, Romania and five other former communist countries to join — while urging Germany, France and other allies to stiffen their resolve against terrorism.
In particular, Bush wants their approval to wage war against Iraq, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein.
Calling the Iraqi leader an "aggressive dictator," the president said, "By his search for terrible weapons, by his ties to terror groups, by his development of prohibited ballistic missiles, the dictator of Iraq threatens the security of every free nation, including the free nations of Europe."
Bush waged a campaign of moral persuasion throughout the trip, suggesting that newly freed nations of Eastern Europe are more willing than NATO's old guard to stand against modern-day tyranny.
"Freedom is never easy," Bush said in private talks with Baltic leaders.
Later, he said here, "Your country ... brings moral clarity to our NATO alliance. You value freedom because you have lived without it. You know the difference between good and evil because you have seen evil's face.
"The people of Romania understand that aggressive dictators cannot be appeased or ignored," Bush said.
As if on cue, Romanian President Ion Iliescu told the crowd, "We're all now looking at new threats."
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, created after World War II to curb Soviet aggression in the latter half of the 20th century, voted Thursday both to invite seven more countries to join and to make sweeping reforms to confront a 21st-century scourge.
"Our alliance of freedom is being tested again by new and terrible dangers," Bush said in Lithuania. "Like the Nazis and Communists before them, the terrorists seek to end lives and control all life."
"And like the Nazis and the Communists before them, they will be opposed by free nations. And the terrorists will be defeated," Bush said.
But the people who filled this city's wide boulevards and Vilnius' cobblestone square were not drawn by the war on terrorism. They came to celebrate their NATO invitations, reflecting on decades of oppression, occupation and human misery.
"We have waited for this for 300 years," said Vladas Ludkevicius, 73, clutching a yellow, green and red Lithuanian flag as he walked to Bush's address in Vilnius.
All but the youngest crowd members have lived under communism. Some remember the Nazis.
"Joining NATO will protect us from being occupied again," said Rimantas Grigaitis, a 70-year-old Lithuanian.
The Vilnius crowd was smaller and quieter than the White House had hoped, but those who showed were nonetheless awed by the significance of Bush's visit to Lithuania, the first by a U.S. president, and their hard-earned NATO membership.
"It is a great moment for us," said Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, who spent five decades in exile in the United States after fleeing the Red Army.
The Vilnius crowd interrupted Bush's speech with chants of "NATO!" and "Aciu!"
The president paused to ask for translation. He smiled when told it meant thank you.
"You're welcome!" he replied.
In Romania, the president's address was part of a Hollywood-style production that included jumbo screens and high-energy instrumentals thumping from speakers as Bush and Iliescu strode onto the massive stage.
The Romania stopped Bush and pointed to the eastern sky where the rainbow stretched over the one-time Communist Party headquarters. "God is smiling on us today," Bush said.
The rainbow framed a banner that said, "Only freedom can make such miracles."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. |
