YEA!!!! Jolly good show! Congrats onyx!
Posted on 08/12/2006 12:59:12 PM PDT by Wolfstar
_ Tuesday, the President will participate in a National Security Council and Homeland Security Council briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia. He will have a meeting with the counterterrorism team, attend lunch with the counterterrorism and homeland security teams, and also meet separately with the homeland security team. According to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, these are long-scheduled meetings, and are not a reaction to the recently discovered plot to blow up flights between Britain and the United States. However, the investigation will be part of their discussion.
_ Wednesday, the President will travel to York, Pennsylvania, where he will participate in a tour of Harley Davidson vehicle operations. He will also participate in a roundtable on the economy and attend a Lynn Swann for Governor reception.
_ Thursday, the President will sign HR4, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, at the White House. Later in the day he will travel to Camp David.
_ Friday, GWB will participate in a meeting with his economic advisers. He will spend Saturday at Camp David and return to the White House on Sunday, the 20th.
What other theme could there be this Saturday, just two days after the magnificent work the United Kingdom did in breaking up a monstrous terrorist plot to take down multiple airliners? Today's photo essay tells a story that will be more fully told in the years to come, but photos can be uniquely revealing at any time.
Rarely on the world stage are such close professional, personal, and consequential bonds formed between two national leaders such as the remarkable relationship between the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Honorable Tony Blair, and the President of the United States, the Honorable George W. Bush. (This thread is a tribute to both of them. I place Mr. Blair's name first here only in the same sense as one puts a guest in one's home first.)
Certainly other comparable pairings occurred in the vast sweep of human history: At the birth of our country, the unlikely duo of Washington and Lafayette formed both a life-long friendship and political alliance that eventually brought France into the War for Independence on the American side. Closer to our own time, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, while perhaps never truly friends, nevertheless formed a very close alliance that towered over their era and won WWII. More recently, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher formed a life-long friendship and political alliance that defeated the Soviet Union.
Those relationships (and comparable parings going back as far as Antony and Cleopatra) certainly have make their mark on world history. But there is something quite unique about the bond between Tony Blair and George Bush. Something that is at once easy to see in these photos, and yet difficult to capture in words. The best way I can put it is that they truly appear to have become like brothers and yet more.
In their respective domestic politics, the two men could hardly be more different. We American conservatives surely would chafe under Mr. Blair's domestic policies, which would have a home in the American Democrat Party. Nor are the two men in total lock-step in international affairs. Yet, as the photos on this thread will clearly show, the two have formed a deep, comfortable friendship that is likely to last their entire lives. And, on the central issue of our times, international Islamofacist terrorism, these two men certainly have provided rock-solid world leadership on a par with that of Roosevelt and Churchill.
Unlike the definitive ending to WWII, we are not likely to know how the story of these times plays out for decades to come. Yet we do know now that these two great men -- I use great here in a sense far larger than mundane politics -- have given their all. They've tried their best and then some. They have done everything possible to protect the peoples of the United States and United Kingdom from the monsters that walk among us. Through it all, they seem to fit each other like a comfortable pair of gloves with the fingers intertwined, each giving support and strength to the other.
The "Brothers 'B' " have freed tens of millions, handing those people not a paternalistic neo-colonialism, but a chance to make or break their own futures. In other words, true freedom. Those critics who constantly wail about the Iraq "quagmire" either refuse to or genuinely can't get it: True freedom means the Iraqi people must make of their own country what they will. If they want it to be awash in blood, it will. If they want to restore it to "Garden of Eden" beauty, they can. They are free to choose. Free will. What God bequeathed to us all. This is what George W. Bush and Tony Blair have given to the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq -- a chance to exercise their own free will.
Putting their careers and, in a real sense, their lives on the line, the team of Bush and Blair have made excruciatingly hard decisions in the face vicious opposition (a couple of small examples included here so the photo essay is complete in the story it tells). After Thursday's events, at long last opinion is being written that they have been vindicated. (See this editorial from Investors Business Daily: Vindicated.)
What those freed from the yoke of tyranny by these men (and the blood of the troops they lead) will make of their opportunities, only time will tell -- and it's up to them to write the final chapters in this story.
Thanks, OWF. I'm genuinely touched. :)
Happy to oblige. :)
Nice anecdote about Tony and Cherie staying for that couple's wedding.
Hi Bahbah. I know what you mean about balm for the soul. I am comforted knowing these two great men are on the job...and am equally traumatized that their terms will draw to a close all too soon.
What a wonderful comment, Wolfstar! The pictures today are fabulous. Thank you so much for your work. I will be interested to hear Snugs' comments.
Hi dmd. You're welcome and I'm delighted you enjoyed the photos.
I read an interesting article today. I don't think I have seen this one posted by our favorite article finder, Deb. I read this in Newsweek today while my tires were being rotated. I am going to excerpt the part I found most interesting, but actually I did find the whole article of interest. It is called "Backstage at the Crisis (it is about the G8)."
Here is the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13988981/site/newsweek/ (I couldn't get the hyperlink to work, sorry!)
Here is the excerpt:
Saturday, July 15: The Bear Hug
"The next day, at Bush's base on the grounds of the Konstantinovsky Palace, the mood is much more tense. The cold war may be ancient history, but Secret Service agents believe the president and his aides are under surveillance at all times. They have ordered White House staffers to hand in their BlackBerrys and cell phones so Russian spies can't track their conversations. Russian security refuses to allow a sweep for bugs at "the cottage"—a McMansion-style villa complete with a pool and weight room. Hovering above the ground nearby is a white communications balloon that Bush's aides believe is recording everything they say outdoors. The only totally secure place is the president's armored, soundproofed limo, which the White House has airlifted to Russia. Whenever Bush's advisers want to strategize about Putin, they're forced to sit in the car, parked in the driveway. Inside one of the cottage's rooms, the Secret Service has set up a black tent, where aides can handle classified documents out of sight of any cameras buried in the walls or furniture. Bush is especially guarded as he waits outside for Putin to pick him up for the short trip to the villa where they will hold their talks. As host of the summit, the Russian leader has decided to ferry Bush around in a golf cart, which Putin insists on piloting himself. NEWSWEEK asks whether Putin maintains his dour KGB face in private, or whether he is more relaxed behind closed doors. Bush looks up at the spy balloon and states clearly, "That's your phrase, not mine."
I found this bit of the article really fascinating!
This nugget caught my eye: "As host of the summit, the Russian leader has decided to ferry Bush around in a golf cart, which Putin insists on piloting himself."
We know our Dubya likes to do things his way. Didn't take long for GWB to start ferrying himself, his aides and SS agents himself, in his own golf cart. LOL!
Great B & B collage Dolly!
Do I have to be your agent? ;) You write so well .. you should be published.
Thank you. Maybe I should start a blog. ;-)
Great idea! Join the other conservative bloggers like Captain's Quarters, The Anchoress, Mac's Mind ... why not? "Cryin' Wolf."
Onena these days, when life slows down some. :)
I like to think of the President, years from now, getting ready to welcome his old friend Tony to the ranch. I think they will always be friends.
YEA!!!! Jolly good show! Congrats onyx!
I simply could NOT let this thread go by without posting this little gem :-)
Yes! WTG, Dolly!
Hiya STAR!
Thank you. I am thrilled to be first on this thread.
I absolutely LOVE this thread. And Wolfstar too.
Inspired theme for today's Dose.
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