Bush vows to defeat terror threat (Bush Speech historic and Excellent. UN is on notice)

BBC ^ | 11/19/03 | BBC

[Mark Felton]

Bush vows to defeat terror threat

The Queen and President Bush at Buckingham Palace

US President George Bush has defended the invasion of Iraq and vowed to win the war on terror during the first day of his historic state visit to the UK.

He told the audience at London's Banqueting House that the danger of terrorists using weapons of mass destruction aided by dictators represented "the greatest threat of our age".

He said: "The evil is in plain sight. The danger only increases with denial.

"Great responsibilities have fallen once again to the great democracies. We will face these threats with open eyes and we will defeat them."

President Bush said a global response was needed to such threats, along with a recognition that "in some cases the measured use of force is all that protect us from a chaotic world ruled by force".

Who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing or that the world was safer when he held power? President George W. Bush

He said the people of Baghdad had rejoiced on the fall of Saddam Hussein and now had the right to free speech as enjoyed in the UK and the US.

"The dictator had been given many chances to account for his weapons programmes. Now the resolutions he defied had been enforced.

"Who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing, or that the world was safer when he held power?"

'Alliance of values'

Defending the war in Iraq, Mr Bush said the UK and US shared "a mission in the world beyond the balance of power or the simple pursuit of interest".

"We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings," he said.

"Together, our nations are standing and sacrificing for this high goal in a distant land at this very hour."

The US president was given an official Royal welcome

President Bush paid tribute to UK service personnel who died in the war in Iraq and those serving in the country.

And he said the UK and the US enjoyed a "very strong" relationship based on "an alliance of values".

He vowed that the coalition would not turn away from Iraq in the face of threats from "thugs".

He also reaffirmed his pledge to work towards a viable Palestinian state amid security for Israel.

Mr Bush was earlier welcomed by the Queen at a ceremony full of pageantry at Buckingham Palace.

The president's visit comes amid unprecedented security due to anti-war protests and increased terror fears.

Security review

Despite the intense policing the visit began amid claims the Mirror newspaper had exposed a breach in security.

The claims have prompted a Buckingham Palace investigation and Home Secretary David Blunkett has made a statement to MPs about the incident.

The Mirror newspaper claimed one of its reporters got a job as a footman in the palace using fake references and was set to serve the president's staff breakfast.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Tony Blair stressed the importance of Britain's relationship with the US.

Conservative leader Michael Howard paid tribute to Mr Blair's close relationship with Mr Bush.

The Stop the War Coalition predicts that 100,000 people will take to the streets on Thursday for the main protest against Mr Bush's visit.

The formal welcome for Mr Bush and his wife Laura from the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came after a 41-gun salute.

They were driven the short distance from the Belgian suite, where they are staying, to be met by the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Mr Blair and other dignitaries.

After the American national anthem was played they inspected the guard, before the Queen gave the president a private viewing of the Royal Collection of art.

Protest parties

As the president set out his defence of the war, peace campaigners are attempting to demonstrate their opposition in a series of protests across the capital.

Parliament Square, the South Bank and the Exxon-Mobil headquarters are among the locations earmarked for demonstrations.

A "roaming" Street Party and a Resist Bush Tea Party are also planned, while London Mayor Ken Livingstone has organised a peace party in City Hall for groups opposed to the war in Iraq.

Full route map of Thursday's protest

Mr Bush is due to meet British families of those who died in the 11 September attacks in New York, although a trip to the memorial gardens at the US Embassy was cancelled due to security concerns.

The president is also due to meet Mr Howard, who supported the war, and the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, who opposed it.

In the evening, Mr and Mrs Bush will be guests of honour at a state banquet at the Palace.

Scotland Yard has put in place a £5m operation which will see over 5,000 police on the capital's streets.

Police agreed the mass protest on Thursday could march up Whitehall after receiving reassurances from organisers that it would be peaceful.

[sprunged]

Amen!

[Quix]

Putting the UN on notice

. . . . COULD . . . .

end up increasing the permission/orders from the globalists to the terrorists to take him out.

PRAYERS IN ORDER.

Please consider this prayer alert at:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1025329/posts?page=9

[Paleo Conservative]

We live in a world of The Clash of Civilizations not The End of History much less The Olive and Lexus.

I never could understand the idea of being at The End of History.

[JohnGalt]

I have always appreciated your candor, and glad to see we agree with that this speech was Globaloney.

What began as a conservative foreign policy is now a leftwing policy, just as many of us predicted in our principled stance against the adventure.

So, now what?

[Republic]

GWB's historic UK speech today -- "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq and pay a bitter cost of casualties and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins.

And that, was my favorite line in that speech! YOU GO GW! Ya made us so proud and you and Tony Blair have made, through the ulitmate sacrifice of the precious combined miltary troops, our world a stronger and safer place.

[rmlew]

We we try to pick up the peices from Bush's erratic policy?

[JohnGalt]

It looks like the D's are picking up the nation building commitement, "the war was wrong, but now that its over, we are obligated to rebuild," but it's tough to believe Bush can get to the Left of the D's with this Globaloney 'stuff.'

Lets give it another month; maybe this was just Nov posturing to select audiences.

BTW, you realize Orwell, a man who picked up a gun for the Reds, recanted the substance of your tagline?

I appreciate the irony of seeing an ideological opposite use the line as it proves my point, but hey, we are working on consensus here.

[rmlew]

It looks like the D's are picking up the nation building commitement, "the war was wrong, but now that its over, we are obligated to rebuild," but it's tough to believe Bush can get to the Left of the D's with this Globaloney 'stuff.'
Having invaded Iraq, we now have a responsibilityy to it. That is not a leftist arguement, but a political reality.

Regarding my tagline, it is based on "Notes on Nationalism" which Orwell wrote in the 1940's, when he was an anti-communist.
I would like to see a source for the claim that Orwell recanted a statement that is true on the face of it.

[JohnGalt]

Try to follow me here, I was giving the political rhetoric you will hear from the D's, and you proved my point for how difficult it will be for Bush to communicate a different strategy.

The challenge would be to find an alternative way to frame the argument that pleases the Right. That is the nature of figuring out political alliances. I am already concerned that on this point alone, you would lean 'left' (or towards the Ds anyway) rather than to the Right on a 'bring the boys home' phraseology.

I provided a link to the story of his recantation, but you are incorrect, he wrote it as an anti-fascist not an anti-Communist. Orwell only recanted picking up a gun for the the Stalin backed Reds in the Spanish American War in the late 40s.

But here, read Orwell in his own words on your line there.

Like I said, I love the irony.

[rmlew]

Thank you for the link. I had never seen Orwell/Blair's article, "As I please."

I do think that there are weaknesses in Orwell's argument.
Trotskyites were always anti-Fascist. They were anti-Fascist in the early 1930's, during the Spanish Civil war (even as the Stalinists were killing members of PUM), and during the Nazi-Soviet de fact alliance.
On the other hand the British peaceniks always helped Hitler. They kept the UK from re-arming, formented opposition to action in the Commonwealth, and promoted strikes that would have crippled the war effort.
Frankly, Orwell's disestablishmentarian opposition to propoganda and ideology fueled a weak argument in this case.

I like Orwell. I beleieve that "1984" and his works on language should be requirements for all students of politics. However, I do not always agree with Eric Blair.

PS. You certainly take a position at odds with the Objectivist Establishment.

[JohnGalt]

I had no idea JohnGalt would carry such ideological baggage when I grabbed the handle in '98, but I was 24 at the time. Not an objectivist, just a run of the mill radical localists who likes anti-heros in American lit.

The Brit's rearmed at 20% GNP in the 1930s compared to the German 15-17% GNP. The British Right of the time saw peace with Germany as the only way to maintain the Empire, and Churchill rather proved the me correct. The Brit's basically were in an untenable position during the 1930's and thus their writers were naturally prone to excessive contradictions.

Most say the only reason Orwell dropped his Red sympathies was over a conservative women.

I much prefer Tolkien and CS Lewis as the conservative voices of end of Empire England but Orwell is one of those leftists, like Hemingway, that must be read.