I think W. may be blessed--Arafat kicking off like he did, when he did, was perfect timing, not to mention the resounding success of Iraqi Freedom.
President Bush's strategy has been well developed for a long time, and his employing one of the foremost experts on the downfall of the Soviet Union as his National Security advisor and now as SecState proves his farsightedness.
President Bush saw this coming, and has been working for it for a very long time. Even his isolation of Arafat from day one has been part and parcel of his leadership.
Witness: President Bush has been expounding upon this same theme since 9/11, and to a lesser extent even before that time.
The most detailed look at the Bush Liberty Doctrine was first given on June 1, 2002
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020601-3.html President Bush Delivers Graduation Speech at West Point
Not long after that, in "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America",
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html , the administration laid out the whole deal, with reasoning and detail. Many only saw "preemption" in this, but they were simply being myopic, intentionally or not. The first paragraph of that is:
"The great struggles of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with a decisive victory for the forces of freedom—and a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise. In the twenty-first century, only nations that share a commitment to protecting basic human rights and guaranteeing political and economic freedom will be able to unleash the potential of their people and assure their future prosperity. People everywhere want to be able to speak freely; choose who will govern them; worship as they please; educate their children—male and female; own property; and enjoy the benefits of their labor. These values of freedom are right and true for every person, in every society—and the duty of protecting these values against their enemies is the common calling of freedom-loving people across the globe and across the ages."
I highly recommend that all FReepers, all who wish to catch up on what has been going on behind the scenes and why, all who still can't understand the reason our Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, and our Bill of Rights are so powerful, and all who simply wish to educate themselves as to the most probable direction of the Twenty-First century take a look at these documents - more than once.
Bush's Liberty Doctrine is to this century what the Monroe Doctrine was to the 19th. President Bush's administration has invited us all to understand what is happening, if we wish to understand. This team and president are far more intelligent and farseeing than most others in the whole world. Present events demonstrate the truth in these documents, and his strategery.
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