Posted on 02/28/2011 5:49:00 AM PST by Graybeard58
In the aftermath of 9/11, George W. Bush frequently spoke of the desire of all people, regardless of their corner of the world, to live in freedom. Mr. Bush became a supporter of efforts to spread freedom and democracy around the world, arguing that the more free people feel, the less likely they are to fall under the spell of terrorist ideologies.
In his second inaugural address, Mr. Bush said "the force of human freedom" is the only "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."
Many liberal Democrats reacted to Mr. Bush's pronouncements with ridicule, arguing that people in some parts of the world just do not want democracy, and would resent the United States for trying to impose it. These liberals cited Mr. Bush's pro-democracy views as proof of how shallow, unsophisticated, unworldly and, well, stupid, he was.
With recent events in the Middle East and Africa in mind, liberals might want to think twice about who has a flawed world view.
In December and January, protests in Tunisia led to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali leaving the country after 23 years in power. Among the protesters' grievances was the lack of political freedom and free speech. In fact, in its most recent annual report "Freedom in the World," Freedom House, a nonpartisan group that advocates for worldwide political freedom, gave Tunisia a grade of 7 — the lowest degree of freedom —on the political-rights dimension and 5 for civil liberties.
Do American liberals really believe people this repressed are happy?
Following the Tunisian example, protesters with similar complaints helped force the ouster of longtime Egyptian "President" Hosni Mubarak. Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, one of the world's truly deranged leaders, faces the most serious challenge to his 41-year reign, as Libyan dissidents have seized control of most of Libya, save for its capital of Tripoli. (Freedom House gave Gadhafi a 7 for political-rights and civil liberties.)
Say what you want about Mr. Bush, but it is becoming more and more clear he was right about the natural human desire for freedom. That means those brilliant liberal Democrats were actually wrong.
And for the record, Gadhafi gave up his weapons of mass destruction program just days after Iraq's Saddam Hussein was pulled from his spiderhole.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this ping list, let me know.
Rubbish.
These people’s idea of “freedom” is a united Islamic theocracy that can effectively threaten and blackmail the West.
In Wisconsin there is a struggle against Freedom. The participants are at war to live their lives as they please on the plantation subservient to their Union masters. The enslavement of whites is accepted as a wonderful gift and well worth fighting for.
Maybe true of ~50% of people.
There are plenty of Zer0 supporters in the US who don't appear to actually want freedom (and all that comes with it). Then there are all of those who wish to embrace the non-thinkers "religion" of Mad Mo'.
Good article.
The only problem is that we now have weakling idiots in office in Washington who will not use U.S. influence, what’s left of it, to install good governance in Libya and Egypt and Tunisia, etc.
What’s left is a void that will likely be filled with evil and do us harm.
Nobody respects us any more, much less fears us. The pantywaist muslim wannabe in the White House is well on the way to ruining us.
I believe that the vast majority of people, given the choice, would much rather live in freedom. True freedom and liberty also brings with it usually peace and prosperity but along with it, it also means carrying responsibility on a personal level and sharing that responsibility with fellow citizens of the countries they reside in.
The events in the Middle East are far from complete. This rush to credit Bush is premature.
Unfortunately for Western civilization, I believe that you are correct.
I dunno, just thinkin it's time we put America first.
I guess these editorial writers are unaware that both Iraq and Afghanistan based their new constitutions on sharia law. And it remains to be seen what sort of new governments will emerge in Egypt and the other Arab nations currently experiencing a peoples’ uprising. - And maybe they missed the fact that half the Christians in Iraq left during the first years after the US invasion, and that those remaining are being persecuted and murdered at an increasing rate.
The notion that democracy and freedom mean the same things to all people around the world is total nonsense, but that doesn’t seem to stop many Americans from continuing to indulge in that fantasy.
Who is “Mr” Bush?
A relative of President Bush?
Here, they have decided that the people rioting in the streets are the "good" side and the answer is "democracy".
They ignore inconvenient facts, like "democracies" which adhere to sharia law don't offer freedom of speech or religion. They persecute females, mutilating them as young girls, murdering them as adults. This destruction of male-female relations leads to young men with rearings so perverse that the prospect of suicide-murder missions seems desirable. They enshrine a culture of death.
How do we deter a culture that values death more than life? We need a Crusade of Ideas to recapture the Middle East. We need to convince people that their lives are better in civilized nations rather than the barbarism of the Caliphate. To win the battle, we need to identify, understand and articulate the values that make up civilized society. Tough to do when many of us take them for granted, having lived in them all our lives.
In Marc Theisen's book, he lamented that this war of ideas was identified shortly after 9/11 but never prosecuted. We've put it off long enough. With the governments in the Middle East being swept away, now is the time.
No, I don't know how we do it. Perhaps we need to split out the many Muslims who can reconcile their religion with living in a modern, secular society. Could some Inmams living in the U.S. explain how it's done? Are the Muslim women who live in modern societies with their faces uncovered "valid" Muslims? If so, how can the Sharia regimes insist they're not? If it's all interpretation, then we need to clear and hold countries, or even parts of countries, one at a time. Kind of like the Kurdish section of Iraq, a sanctuary within a nightmare. People would vote with their feet for freedom.
If we lose, if the Middle East dominoes all topple to sharia, then we get to practice asymetrical warfare on them. It's much easier to destroy and disrupt then to build and maintain. Well, the shoe will be on the other foot. The sharia freaks will have to maintain their rule. Tough to do without funding, aid, trade, electricity, etc.
Even in this piece no one is trying to "credit" W here, only questioning the premise under which he was and still is criticized. He expressed a confidence in Arab peoples many here will not: that they can peaceably self-govern as well as any people if given the opportunity. He took hits from the Left and Right, some born of islamophobia, others from pragmatism or pessimism.
It's possible the Arab world has reached a kind of tipping point. We may be seeing a "domino effect" where democratic self-rule will sweep across the nations and halt radicalism. I hope so but that's clearly the most optimistic reading. Revolution is often a messy process and I hope our troops are not drawn into it.
Examining his daily record with Egypt, public mix up of Iraq with Afghanistan and an inability to even spell Libya, I have little confidence in Obama's ability to handle a foreign policy crisis. That's more distressing to me than what's going on in those streets.
One of the many things President Bush was dead wrong about.
“Most men do not desire liberty; most only wish for a just master.” Sallust
L
A relative of President Bush?"
I think he is referring to W and 41.
Unfortunately many in America are more than willing to sacrifice freedom for a promise of government-provided security.
It’s apparently part of the human condition.
God Bless The Bushes! I miss their Christmas cards.
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