What Did The President Say Today? March 22, 2006

[street_lawyer]

This is what I got out of the President’s address in West Virginia today. Terrorists need a safe haven. They need it because they do not have a country. Afghanistan was their safe haven. We are dealing with ideologues. What they believe in subverted a great religion to meet their needs.  To protect ourselves we must deny them a safe haven. The job of the president is to keep his word, to deny terrorists a safe haven. 20 million people are now free because of what our military has done. “I am not imposing my values”, liberty is a universal thought, and if you believe that then you should take comfort and joy in freeing people.

             “I welcome debate” but we were founded on the natural rights of men and women, and we must remember our own founding principles. The President said that he is deeply troubled to hear that when a person decides to convert to different religion that person is facing deadly prospects.

             The lesson of 9/11 is that when we see a threat we must take it seriously. It will not go away.  “My job is to see threats before they strike America. I saw a thereat in Iraq, members of congress saw a threat, and my predecessor saw a thereat and he instituted a policy of regime change in Iraq. There were UN resolutions that Saddam ignored. He was declared to be a state sponsor of terror. He used WMD’s.  I thought he had them, congress thought he had them, others thought he had them, but our intelligence broke down. The important fact is that he had the capacity to make new WMD’s. He invaded his neighbors, and he shot at American planes patrolling the no-fly zone. He made the choice, and I made my choice and the world is better off without Saddam Hussain in power. The biggest threat Americans face is that moment when terror and WMD come together. It is difficult to send young men into harms way. It is hard. It is the last option and not the first. The first is diplomacy; we did that, now the question is can we win? 

People are concerned. I understand why. The enemy has the capacity to affect our way of thinking. We value our own lives and others. The enemy has told us that they want to spread their philosophy to all parts of the mid east; they believe that democracy is soft, and they believe Americans will give up so that they can use their terror tactics. That’s what they have said, and we have released the documents to prove it.

 It’s a global war against a people who want to spread an ideology that is opposed to freedom and democracy. They represent despair. Freedom represents life and dreams. Our enemy fights to stop us, to destroy the dreams of freedom that all men desire. 

Liberated countries have passed a constitution, and ion Iraq more then 75% of eligible voters braved danger and voted for a new government and a new way of life.  Now it’s time for leaders to come together to form a unity government. That’s what the people want. We want to make it clear to the Iraqis that a strong government can and will protect them. People realize that democracy is good, but it is not an easy task to establish one.Our articles of confederation didn’t work either. Democracy is not easily established, but it is worth the effort.

 Security in Iraq and Afghanistan is vital and they will need to rebuild an army to stop those who want to kill hopes for democracy, and with our help those fledgling governments will succeed.  We are making progress; more and more Iraqis are taking over the fight. The enemy of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan cannot defeat the US militarily, and they will not defeat the citizens of those newly formed democracies.

            The president said that he would govern as he always has without concern for polls, focus groups or election year politics.  Experts in the military, and not politicians, polls, focus groups, nor election year politics will determine troop levels until the people of Iraq and Afghanistan achieve victory over the terrorists.

             The military strategy is to, clear, hold and rebuild. Some have said that there are not enough US troops to apply that theory in all of Iraq. How do they know that? If that were the case, would this be the policy of our military experts?

             We will no longer look at Arab nations and if the water looks calm, be satisfied. We will look beneath the surface at the troubled waters beneath. Let us remember how Japan was our sworn enemy and attacked us, and now it is one of our strongest allies in keeping the peace. The reason is that Japan is now a democracy, and we can accomplish the same in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East. Democracies do not war; our European allies who once were involved in mortal combat now live in peace with the rest of the democratic world.  That generation of Americans that fought for lasting peace, and achieved it among democratic nations. They did not give up and Americans now will not give up, but will fight until victory over terror is completed.

A Questioner with sons in military service thanked God that President Bush is our Commander and Chief, and there were thunderous applause from the listeners, and the questioner urged the President to continue to tell the American people the truth about Iraq.  The president explained that he is trying to be “educator and chief”. “I understand there are differences of opinion”, and it is healthy as long as we do not send the wrong message to our troops, and to our enemy. The President assured his listeners: “I will not weaken or loose my nerve.”

         When foreign countries use fossil, it affects our price of oil. We get our oil from parts of the world that “do not like us”.  We have a reserve of 250 years of coal, and we are working on technology that will allow us to burn clean coal through gasification leading to liquefaction of coal, and we should use nuclear power that is clean and safe. It makes sense for congress to spend money on new technology, and American should produce better autos that burn less gas. We can create energy from corn and saw grass and other products that will benefit workers in many parts of our country.

         Our nuclear policy will help reduce the price of gasoline. It is in our interest for example to allow India to use nuclear power since it will reduce the price of oil throughout the world. For over 30 years India has not proliferated nuclear weapons. They are a transparent democracy, and they are willing to allow the EAEA to inspect. On the other hand, Iran has cheated and tried to enrich uranium to make nuclear bombs, and they are not a transparent democracy. They are hustle to the US and our allies. We have to be very careful not to allow them to develop dangerous WMD’s.

         When asked if young men and women should consider a career in the military, the President as them to serve our country one way or another, and one way to do that is to put on a military uniform. It is a rewarding experience, and a way to college. And speaking to Americans the President suggested there are other ways to serve our nation. You can mentor a child, serve Katrina victims, or be a Boy Scout leader. We are a nation of people who come together for a greater purpose than each of us can achieve alone. “I am a believer in providing money for faith based organization as long as it is not used to proselytize.” We in government should be asking: “Does the program work”?

         A firefighter praised the president for taking the fight to an enemy that killed many of my brothers in New York City.  The President expressed his gratitude to all who are wearing uniforms and accepted the praise with his usual modest demeanor and respect.

[Frenetic]

"What they believe in subverted a great religion to meet their needs."

- This is a lie. What they believe is sanctioned and condoned by their cult. It is neither great nor subverted.

[pgyanke]

Yes. However, the President is smart to not inflame the war to billions fighting billions in a Christian vs Muslim deathmatch.

Instead, he is being a bit more subtle. Christ told us the Gospel will be received wherever it is preached. The Arabs have responded to this threat by not allowing preaching of anything but their cult. Democracy has as one fundamental underpinning "freedom of conscience" and this includes freedom of religion. As Afghanistan and Iraq experience democracy, the Gospel is being preached and conversions are happening.

What you see in Afghanistan with the converted Muslim is a test. They want to know whether they can stop this trend. I pray they can't. Time, and the Lord, will tell.