Posted on 09/26/2006 10:59:54 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
Had it not been for the terrorist attacks in the United States, the headlines on September 12, 2001 might have read: "Inter-American Democratic Charter Signed -- New Day for Democracy in the Hemisphere." The people of the Western Hemisphere would have focused on what happened the day before in Lima, Peru instead of New York City, Washington, DC, and rural Pennsylvania.
Of course, the headlines were very different. For while foreign ministers from the member countries of the Organization of American States were gathered in Lima, Peru to sign the Inter-American Democratic Charter, 19 terrorists were carrying out their murderous plot in the United States, resulting in the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent persons, including citizens of 32 OAS states. As then Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega later observed, it was "poetic justice that within moments of those horrific attacks, the nations of the Americas vowed to preserve and defend our common values by approving the Inter-American Democratic Charter."
The Charter signed that September morning five years ago represented the fulfillment of the original promise of the 1948 OAS Charter whose preamble states: "representative democracy is an indispensable condition for the stability, peace and development of the region." It took many decades for that spirit to be honored. But as democracies replaced dictatorships and people flocked to the polls in country after country, our hemisphere became the most democratic region in the world.
This led to the adoption in 1991 of OAS Resolution 1080 -- the Santiago Commitment to Democracy. Then in 1992, the OAS further advanced the movement toward a democratic hemisphere in the Declaration of Nassau in which OAS members, meeting in Nassau, declared their resolve "to develop OAS mechanisms to provide member states with the assistance they request to build, preserve and strengthen representative democracy." When the Democratic Charter was signed in 2001, the Nassau Declaration was specifically cited as a critical building block for hemispheric democracy.
The Inter-American Democratic Charter represents a major advance in enshrining democracy in the hemisphere. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell, realizing the importance of the Charter, told his counterparts after hearing of the attacks that he would not return to Washington until their work was done.
Because of the hemispheric unity demonstrated that day, the OAS today has the ability to address situations in which democracy in a member state may be at risk, before there is an actual interruption of the democratic order. In addition, any OAS member-state that experiences an interruption in democracy can be sanctioned and suspended from membership. In a world in which states jealously guard their sovereignty, the OAS members recognized on September 11 that the rights of citizens of this hemisphere to live in democratic societies were more important than traditional notions of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states.
This recognition is also central to our ability as democratic, freedom-loving nations to defeat the continued threat from terrorism. For as President Bush emphasized last week, the advance of freedom and human dignity through democracy is the long-term antidote to the ideology of terrorism. For where terrorists exploit political alienation, democracy gives people a stake in society, and where terrorists exploit grievances to blame others, democracy offers the rule of law and peaceful resolution of differences.So today, five years after 9/11 our hemisphere should be proud to be at the very forefront of the democratic movement sweeping the globe. Likewise, The Bahamas should be proud of the role it played in the birth of the Inter-American Democratic Charter through the Nassau Declaration. Thanks to these decisive advances, democratic members of the OAS now share what Secretary Rice characterized in 2005 as "a strong consensus that political and economic liberty is the only road to lasting success."
As this consensus spreads to the rest of the world, individuals now denied their dignity will come to share in the freedoms we -- Americans and Bahamians -- hold so dear.Today I will join with Bahamian officials in planting a tree at my residence in honor of the innocent victims of that September day five years ago. And as we remember the victims of the worst terrorist attack in history, we also recall the signing of the Inter-American Democratic Charter that planted a seed of hope on a day of destruction. It is my hope that that promise of democracy will continue to deepen its roots in our hemisphere and spread its branches of freedom and tolerance throughout our world in the years ahead.
For your reasearch
The International Communists simply launched the 9/11 attack through their Islamic "Useful Idiots" to put the brakes on Democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
We are in a war with Russia and don't know it.
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=2141&cid=11&sid=64
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.