Transcript of The Bush Whitehall Speech (title mine)

Fox News, other sources (not copyrightable material) ^ | Nov. 19, 2003 | George W, Bush

[alancarp]

Thank you all. Thank you very much.

Secretary Straw and Secretary Hoon, Admiral Colbold (ph) and Dr. Shipman (ph), distinguished guests, I want to thank you for your very kind welcome that you've given to me and to Laura. I also thank the groups hosting this event, the Royal United Services Institute and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

[alancarp]

Bookmark early and often. 'Nuff said.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Couldn't catch all on the radio. thanks for posting.

[over3Owithabrain]

Wow.

Big W bump - what a leader!

[isthisnickcool]

Heck of a speech!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

"...our closest friend in the world."
That's nice.

[XJarhead]

Wow. If the delivery was anything close to the content, it must have been a fantastic speech.

[AmericanInTokyo]

"The attacks that followed -- on Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Bombay, Mombassa, Najaf, Jerusalem, Riyadh, Baghdad, and Istanbul -- were not dreams."

When he rattled these off, it was both somber and chilling. He slowed down effectively and deliberately for each attacked city. It was like the old NBC radio announcers in the Pacific rattling off the Asian cities that had fallen, one by one, under the Emperor's troops. One wonders, "when/where will it END?"

[MrsEmmaPeel]

I thought it was W's best. Thank goodness we have DVR, I was able to start the speech again, throw in a tape and tape it for Mr. Peel who was unable to see it. He will tonight!

[areafiftyone]

Wow just printed it out and read it. Brought a big lump to my throat!!

[alancarp]

Yes. From the tenor of the comments accompanying the 'Live' thread, it was definitely a keeper (nope, I didn't get it in real time, either!).

[gitmogrunt]

Bush sucked up to his muslim friends way too much, by spanking Milosevic in this speech,as if the "victims" of ethnic cleansing in the balkans are only muslims.

Minus Bush's over-patronizing comments on islam, it was an o.k. speech.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Vision, Character, Focus, Mission, Clarity and The Holy Spirit, in action.

[AmericanInTokyo]

How about using a reverse scale of sorts, i.e. the more the media ignore or detractors dismiss his talk, the higher the ranking he gets in terms of reaching average hearts and minds....

[countrydummy]

self bump for later. Thanks for the thread.

[4CJ]

Fantastic speech by W.

[areafiftyone]

I am soooo proud of our president!!! I am hoping that they will re-broadcast this on CSpan tonight.

[areafiftyone]

I am soooo proud of our president!!! I am hoping that they will re-broadcast this on CSpan tonight.

[angcat]

It was a very enjoyable one. He did well and spoke excellent!

[areafiftyone]

whoops! Sorry for the double post.

[alancarp]

Oh, I dunno - he banged on Muslims indirectly on behalf of the rights of women. And Islam will likely take offense at his use of 'Pillars' to lay the foundations for peace. I imagine that Muslims will lay claim to some kind of exclusive use of the term.

In my reading, there were plenty of blame to go around, plus some softening blows. For instance, the French have to look on this section...

"It's been said that those who live near a police station find it hard to believe in the triumph of violence. In the same way, free peoples might be tempted to take for granted the orderly societies we have come to know.

"Europe's peaceful unity is one of the great achievements of the last half century. And because European countries now resolve differences through negotiation and consensus, there's sometimes an assumption that the entire world functions in the same way.

"But let us never forget how Europe's unity was achieved: by Allied armies of liberation and NATO armies of defense."

... as a huge, condescending slam.