Posted on 12/11/2005 11:26:58 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
History will exonerate me: Bush
TRUST ME: The US president claimed that in 50 years' time, people would look back and say that he had done the right thing by invading Iraq
Sunday, Dec 11, 2005,Page 7
 |
|
US Marines from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines Regiment, pay respect to two fallen colleagues that were killed recently during a memorial ceremony held at their headquarters, in the outskirts of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, yesterday. As of yesterday, at least 2,137 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. |
"I'm absolutely convinced that some day, 50 or 60 years from now, an American president will be speaking to an audience saying, thank goodness a generation of Americans rose to the challenge and helped people be liberated from tyranny," Bush said.
"Democracy spread and the world is more peaceful for it," he added.
He spoke at a fundraiser here expected to raise about US$1 million for Representative Mark Kennedy, a Republican running for a US Senate in a state Bush lost in two presidential elections.
In a luncheon speech to a ballroom full Kennedy's supporters, Bush repeated many of the arguments he has made in the past two weeks about the importance of winning the battle for Iraq and with it, he insists, the greater Middle East.
"We have got a strategy for victory and we'll see that strategy through," he said, drawing on lines from his recent policy speeches on Iraq.
"We will defeat the terrorists in Iraq. We will not let al-Qaeda take a stronghold -- get a stronghold in Iraq. We'll help this country develop a democracy, which will send a powerful signal to people in Damascus and Tehran," he said.
During last year's campaign, Bush often spoke of his friendship with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, remarking that a bitter enemy that former president George Bush fought against in World War II has become a close friend and ally. He expanded on the theme during his recent trip in Asia, with Koizumi at his side, and used it again today to argue that history would prove him right in deciding to invade Iraq.
"Something happened between the time that my dad and your relatives signed up in World War II and I'm talking peace with Koizumi," he said.
"And what happened was Japan became a democracy," he said.
Many outside experts and even some of Bush's own aides question his reliance on the comparison, noting that Japan was a unified state before World War II, but that Iraq has always been divided along religious and regional lines.
"It may sound too simple, but this is a comparison the president believes in deeply," one of his senior aides said last month when Bush was in Asia, declining to be quoted by name because he was discussing the president's thinking.
"It's the argument he knows his presidency will be judged by," the aide said.
Casualties
Meanwhile, a US soldier was killed and 11 others were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack against a unit in western Baghdad, the US military said yesterday.
The attack, which also wounded an Iraqi civilian, occurred on Friday in the Abu Ghraib district, the US military said in a statement.
The identity of the soldier who was killed was not released pending notification of his family.
The soldiers had been manning a static security position at the time of the attack, said Master Sergeant David Abrams of Task Force Baghdad. Most of the wounded had superficial injuries, while one soldier was evacuated to Germany for medical treatment, he said.
As of yesterday, at least 2,137 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,676 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians.
The AP count is one lower than the Defense Department's tally, last updated at 1pm on Friday.
This story has been viewed 186 times.
"I'm absolutely convinced that some day, 50 or 60 years from now, an American president will be speaking to an audience saying, thank goodness a generation of Americans rose to the challenge and helped people be liberated from tyranny," Bush said. "Democracy spread and the world is more peaceful for it," he added.
THIS sounds more like the President. The other sounded as though he was defensive and concentrated entirely on himself. I'm sure that was unintentional by the writer. [sarcasm]
I'm not certain when he'll get the due he deserves. Reagan only got a taste twenty years later, and he died before that happened. G.W.B. could live 40 years and I suspect so long as he lives they will do everything in their power to deny him credit even when the M.E. is the tourist destination of the world. I am confident in time he will be remembered well. I'm confident most other politicians during this time will not be.
Good catch but if you follow the link, that's the exact headline used.
Well said.
You are right but that's the headline submitted by AP. Our president will never get respect from MSM, academia or Euros until they wake up and realize he fights the fight for Western civilization. He goes where no man has gone before.
Much much sooner than 50 years.. it won't even take 'history' to show that GWB did the right thing, it's beginning to show now.. and would be further towards that end had the white flag party and their cohort leftist media got on-board from the get go instead of aiding the enemy and continually throwing sour grapes and bananas under the Military and GWB. But despite the defeatists GWB and our Brave Troops won't have to wait too long to see the fruits of VICTORY!!!
But you have to consider, we have to weed out a generation of those who are doing the writing, first.
vindicate
I agree with him, they will. They shouldn't have to however. This nation has lost it's soul thanks to the left. I am sick and tired of them.
Agreed. Not just wrong word choice, but biased word choice. "Vindicate" in the first paragraph is better. "Prove me right" would be even better.
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.