"Europe - Thy name is Cowardice"
....What else has to happen before the European public and its political leadership get it? There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians, directed against our free, open Western societies, and intent upon Western Civilization's utter destruction.
It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century - a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by "tolerance" and "accommodation" but is actually spurred on by such gestures, which have proven to be, and will always be taken by the Islamists for signs of weakness."
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KB,
I loved your article by the German publishing CEO. That CEO made a comment:
"And Bush, supported only by (Tony) Blair, acting on moral conviction, recognized the danger in the Islamic War against democracy."
I use this comment as my point of departure in demonstrating the amazing (even to me , now, when I ponder it) consistency of Bush and his Adminstration in following what has been described as "neo-conservative".
WEST POINT SPEECH
On June 1, 2002, President Bush at West Point declared "We will defend the peace by fighting terrorists and tyrants....We will extend the peace by encouraging free and open societies on every continent."
2002 NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY (NSS)
By a law that Goldwater helped pass in 1986, the President each year is required to issue a NSS. Until 2002 all NSSs were blandly worded and quickly forgotten. Not Bush's of 2002.
Issued 6 days after 9/11, but written before, it states that in the past America's adversaries were nations "with great armies and great industrial capabilites." And that the strategies that won the cold war - containment and deterrence - no longer work. "Shadowy networks of individuals can bring great chaos and suffering to our shores for less than it costs to purchase a single tank."
Further, this NSS ties American security to freedom in the rest of the world: "No people on earth yearn to be oppressed, aspire to servitude, or eagerly await the midnight knock of the secret police."
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 2005
This address by Bush was especially savaged by critics, primarily on the grounds that the ideal as espoused in the speech is impossible of perfect fulfillment. But the rhetoric is totally consistent with his earlier pronouncements:
"For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom."
.......
"Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time."
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"This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect
customs and traditions very different from our own."
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"We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people."
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"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul." (This last is almost straight from Fukuyama'a 1992 classic, "The End of History.")
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4460172)
2005 STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH
"In the long term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America and other free nations for decades. The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom. Our enemies know this, and that is why the terrorist Zarqawi recently declared war on what he called the "evil principle" of democracy. "
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Bush made two pointed references to "our friends" Egypt and Saudi Arabia:
"The government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the region by expanding the role of its people in determining their future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East."
COLIN POWELL'S ARTICLE IN FOREIGN POLICY: "HOW BUSH SHOULD WIN THE WAR ON TERROR"
It has been argued and speculated that former Sec'y of State Powell was in sharp disagreement with he "neo-conservatives" in the administration such as Wolfowitz. The Jan/Feb issue of "Foreign Policy" should put that myth to rest.
On free-market economics:
"We have come to understand that development assistance does not work well when it is conceived and pursued as a narrow economic exercise. It has become ever clearer that political attitudes and cultural predispositions affect the economic behavior of individuals, and that history has shaped the economic institutions of societies." (This language comes almost directly from Fukuyama's new book, "Nation Building.")
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"The first George W. Bush administration took these lessons to heart. We see development, democracy, and security as inextricably linked. We recognize that poverty alleviation cannot succeed without sustained economic growth, which requires that policymakers take seriously the challenge of good governance. "
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"Development is not a “soft” policy issue, but a core national security issue. Although we see a link between terrorism and poverty, we do not believe that poverty directly causes terrorism. Few terrorists are poor. The leaders of the September 11 group were all well-educated men, far from the bottom rungs of their societies. Poverty breeds frustration and resentment, which ideological entrepreneurs can turn into support for—or acquiescence to—terrorism, particularly in those countries in which poverty is coupled with a lack of political rights and basic freedoms.
The connection between poverty and the absence of freedom is not an incidental one. Although resource endowments shape development, poverty is not inevitable in countries that possess few natural resources."
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"Indeed, foreign aid to undemocratic regimes can be counterproductive in that it increases the longevity of the ruling autocracy by making it easier for despots to keep their small clique of supporters happy. "
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IMHO all of the rhetoric ties together well; and is sincere.
Bruce
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