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Bush turns Europe's consensus on its head
Daily Telegraph ^ | November 20, 2003 | staff

Posted on 11/20/2003 3:10:05 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

George W Bush's Whitehall address yesterday represented the boldest challenge to the conventional wisdom of the British and European elites since Woodrow Wilson preached the rights of self-determination of smaller nations after the First World War.

A summary of that wisdom would go like this: (a) terrorism cannot be defeated in the long run, its perpetrators sooner or later have to be treated with, and their legitimate demands met in some form or other; (b) the Muslim world, and specifically the Arab portion of it, is culturally unsuited to freedom and democracy; (c) the Arab-Israeli dispute lies at the heart of the ills of the Middle East; (d) Israel is principally at fault in that conflict and must be pressured into making most concessions; (e) it is the EU that has played the lead role in bringing about the peace and prosperity of the Continent since 1945; (f) wongdoers on the international scene should be treated with via multilateral forums such as the UN and associated bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency; (g) endless discussion in such bodies is therapeutic in and of itself, and is invariably preferable to the use of force.

President Bush wants to turn all that on its head. He believes that terrorism and rogue states can be vanquished on the West's terms: unlike the exhausted European empires of the post-war era, which lost almost every insurgency that they fought, America is fighting this battle at the height of its powers. Above all, it is doing so convinced of the rightness of its cause, namely the spread of liberty from which no one should be excluded.

He believes that the misery of many millions in the vast Muslim world cannot mainly be ascribed to the wrongdoings of Israel, but rather to the rottenness of their own rulers. That includes the Palestinian people, whom EU politicians have ill-served by indulging Yasser Arafat's corruption. And, in a fascinating mea culpa for years of Western policy to the region, he made clear that it was no longer enough to turn a blind eye to the depredations of tyrannical ``allies'' for the sake of stability. Such an approach turned out not only to be morally wrong, but also failed to bring geopolitical equilibrium, as evidenced by September 11.

There was thus much in President Bush's very radical analysis, not least on the rights of women, that any serious British progressive - and even some protesters - might support. So far, however, he has not persuaded many of them to change their minds. It confirms our belief that the anti-Westernism of many Left-wingers trumps all other values in which they profess to believe. No matter: if he continues on this course, Mr Bush should create new realities on the ground among the ``wretched of the earth'', as assuredly as Ronald Reagan did when he asserted his belief that the peoples of eastern Europe need not be consigned to despotism for ever.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: britain; bush43; statevisit; ukvisit
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Who gave Iraqis the freedom to protest?*** I can't understand how they can fail to see that the world was already proved hideously dangerous on 9/11; that inertia was a counsel of cowardice and despair; and that, whatever the faults of his government - from Guantanamo Bay to steel tariffs - Bush has rid the world of a tyrant, who deprived his people of freedoms taken for granted in London.***
1 posted on 11/20/2003 3:10:06 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"He believes that the misery of many millions in the vast Muslim world cannot mainly be ascribed to the wrongdoings of Israel, but rather to the rottenness of their own rulers."

Once the Muslim world comes to grip with the fact that they, not the jews or Americans, are the source of their own problems, they could start to grow up as a religion. At the present, Islam is in the infantile "terrible two's"

Bush gave an awesome speech.
2 posted on 11/20/2003 3:37:09 AM PST by tkathy (The islamofascists and the democrats are trying to destroy this country)
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To: tkathy
Bush gave an awesome speech.

Yes. We've come a long way from "Boxers or briefs?"

3 posted on 11/20/2003 3:41:07 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Thank God we have a president who will tell the truth about over 80 years of failed european policy in the middleast.
4 posted on 11/20/2003 3:47:57 AM PST by mylife
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To: mylife

Against a backdrop of London landmarks, President George W. Bush delivers a speech at The Banqueting House in London November 19, 2003. Bush toughened his stance on Israel over the huge barrier it is building in the West Bank as Palestinians met to discuss a truce that could help revive peace talks. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
5 posted on 11/20/2003 4:07:10 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"terrorism and rogue states can be vanquished"

Can be and shall be.

"...unlike the exhausted European empires of the post-war era...America is fighting this battle at the height of its powers."

Yes. And unlike the decadent European nations of the present era, America is healthy, energetic, self-confident, strategically and morally clear, optimistic, ascendant--and at the height of its powers!

And furthermore, all this notwithstanding:

If the Europeans have forgotten the price of appeasement, the Americans are well qualified to remind them--or they could take a stroll along the beaches of Normandie!

6 posted on 11/20/2003 4:32:17 AM PST by Savage Beast (This is the choice: confrontation or capitulation. Appeasement is capitulation.)
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To: Savage Beast
Bump!
7 posted on 11/20/2003 4:33:45 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
I can't understand how they can fail to see that the world was already proved hideously dangerous on 9/11

Imagine today's terrorist bombings in Istanbul if they included Iranian nuc's... If the world doesn't wake up to that prospect, and the need to confront it, then the entire civilized world will be threatened. You can't hide from this craziness -- it has to be confronted. Thank God we have President Bush and Tony Blair standing tall during this critical moment in history. Imagine Bill Clinton or President Al Gore... I shudder.

8 posted on 11/20/2003 4:35:18 AM PST by ReleaseTheHounds
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"the misery of many millions in the vast Muslim world cannot mainly be ascribed to the wrongdoings of Israel, but rather to the rottenness of their own rulers."

And, more fundamentally, to the foolishness of the people themselves, who not only are responsible for choosing and following these rulers but are also responsible for their own destiny.

9 posted on 11/20/2003 4:37:51 AM PST by Savage Beast (This is the choice: confrontation or capitulation. Appeasement is capitulation.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Even the Brits are comparing Bush to Reagan.
10 posted on 11/20/2003 4:40:53 AM PST by BlessedBeGod
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The staff of the Telegraph is correct. Anti-Westernism and anti-Americanism are the overriding passion of Leftists.
11 posted on 11/20/2003 4:43:26 AM PST by Savage Beast (This is the choice: confrontation or capitulation. Appeasement is capitulation.)
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To: tkathy
"Islam is in the infantile 'terrible two's'"

It's been there for 1,400 years. Maybe that's the best it's going to do.

12 posted on 11/20/2003 4:46:34 AM PST by Savage Beast (This is the choice: confrontation or capitulation. Appeasement is capitulation.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; tkathy
It was an excellent speech.

It was reasonable, logical. If X doesn't work and you continue doing it, then at some point your sanity is questionable. Bush proposes an expansion of liberty and democracy; the deposing of tyrants.

I think he's right. At least it's not the same old X.
13 posted on 11/20/2003 4:58:59 AM PST by xzins (Proud to be Army!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
To me, this analysis is dead on, that speech was incredibly ambitious and a dramatic departure from our past policy in the ME and elsewhere. That fact has not sunk in with many...
14 posted on 11/20/2003 5:02:23 AM PST by Axolotl
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To: Savage Beast
Jealously is a terrible thing.
15 posted on 11/20/2003 5:02:27 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: xzins; Axolotl
The speech was simple, logical and straight forward. Not difficult to grasp if you care about freedom. Not difficult to implement if you stand for good over evil; self-interest over sacrifice.
16 posted on 11/20/2003 5:05:34 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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oops - sacrifice over self-interest.
17 posted on 11/20/2003 5:07:38 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Savage Beast
As I said on another thread:

They hate the West.
They hate America.
And above all else, the focus of their hate in this decade is GWB.
18 posted on 11/20/2003 5:09:33 AM PST by PogySailor
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To: Savage Beast
"....And, more fundamentally, to the foolishness of the people themselves, who not only are responsible for choosing and following these rulers but are also responsible for their own destiny...."

You stole my thunder here. The old maxim, that People Get the Government They Deserve, still holds true. And, unfortunately, the Arabs never passed through the Reformation or the Enlightenment, (and certainly not a Christian religious awakening) and many of them (among other things) don't understand the need for separation of religious and secular authorities. I don't hold much hope that the Arabs will ever have honest representative government. Living in liberty is not the natural state of mankind; our embrace of Liberty is a rare and serendipitous condition, to be nourished and cherished.

Liberty cannot be imposed upon a populace from without.

19 posted on 11/20/2003 5:09:58 AM PST by Renfield
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To: PogySailor
The delusional hate nothing more than truth. It threatens their delusions.
20 posted on 11/20/2003 5:27:09 AM PST by Savage Beast (This is the choice: confrontation or capitulation. Appeasement is capitulation.)
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