Free Republic

Give people a taste of freedom and they will never tolerate tyranny again. On this belief rests the fate of democracy in the Middle East. A taste of freedom was not enough to woo Iraq's once powerful Sunni Muslims into wider participation in the recent national elections. But Kurds and Shiite Muslims jumped at the chance to shape their nation's future. The world cannot afford to let this historic opportunity to grow robust democracy in the Middle East slip away. If freedom fails, the people of this troubled region will remain enslaved by fear, shut out of a globalized economy,...

In a second inaugural address tinged with evangelical zeal, George W. Bush declared: "Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world." The peoples of the world, however, do not seem to be listening. A new world order is indeed emerging - but its architecture is being drafted in Asia and Europe, at meetings to which Americans have not been invited. Consider Asean Plus Three (APT), which unites the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations with China, Japan and South Korea. This group has the potential to be the world's largest trade bloc, dwarfing the European...

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is blasting African American columnist Les Payne for what he says were racist remarks directed at President Bush. In a letter to Newsday, Koch complained about Payne's Jan. 23 column responding to Bush' inaugural address, where the pundit wrote: "The president was barely in better voice than [Chief Justice William] Rehnquist, with his simian lips tripping workmanlike over his prose." Said Koch: "Payne described the president as having 'simian lips.' The definition of simian in Webster's Dictionary is, 'Relating to, characteristic of, or resembling an ape or monkey.' "Payne is entitled to his...

Fidel Castro says he was paying close attention during President's Bush inaugural address. And the Cuban president says what he saw was "the face of a deranged person." His comments were aired on live Cuban television as Castro spoke to thousands of teachers attending an international conference in Havana. The comments were Castro's first in public since the United States dubbed Cuba an "outpost of tyranny." Castro also said his communist-run island is a paradise that is doing fine without the help of the United States or Europe.

Last Sunday, to judge by their repeated words and stated positions, the necessity of victory is not something these leaders of the Democratic party see as a needful thing. In the moral swamp of the Reid-Kerry-Kennedys it doesn't matter if evil men and tyrannical systems win as long as America is made to lose. Sunk in the minor depravities of frustrated political ambitions, they cannot see -- they cannot allow themselves or their supporters to see -- the deep and abiding depravity of those who kidnap, execute, behead, blow-up, and otherwise destroy men, women, and children en masse in search...

It was about two years ago when I was talking to my friend Tony Blankley of the Washington Times and Fox News, and commented that someday George Bush’s greatness as a president would be compared to Ronald Reagan’s. Tony’s response floored me: “You know, Jack, someday it might be the other way around.” The trifecta of the last two weeks – the Second Inaugural Address, the elections in Iraq, the State of the Union – provide an undeniable demonstration of Tony’s prescience. Yet next December 10 in Oslo, Norway, there will be another undeniable demonstration – this one of undiluted...

 Print Copyright (c) 2005 The Daily Star   Tuesday, February 01, 2005 Bush must embrace the values of open societies By George Soros   President George W. Bush's second inaugural address set forth an ambitious vision of the role of the United States in advancing the cause of freedom worldwide, fueling worldwide speculation over the course of American foreign policy during the next four years. The ideas expressed in Bush's speech thus deserve serious consideration. "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture,"...

Most of the punditry got it right about GW’s second inaugural address: it was a monumental speech that prescribed a major shift in our foreign policy and national security posture.  Not only was it a true description of the dangerous world we live in, it also established the framework for our military operations in the years to come. Some analysts have examined the implications of the speech for our armed forces and their roles and responsibilities in ensuring freedom and promotion of democracy around the world. But they lose sight of the historical context of how this changes our strategic outlook....

Dr. Jack Wheeler, creator of a unique intelligence website dubbed "the oasis for rational conservatives," shares how a gift of vodka and a little ingenuity helped Ukraine's Orange Revolution succeed, bringing the former Russian satellite onto President Bush's list of new democracies. On his website, To the Point, Wheeler begins his column with a defense of the president's inaugural address and his call for peace through freedom, explaining the principle of "democratic pacifism." "If two countries are real democracies, the odds of them going to war against each other are small, very small," Wheeler explains. "History gives no guarantees for...

Few noticed that key portion of President's second inaugural address borrowed from Jewish liturgy, philosophy President George W. Bush's second Inaugural Address was certainly ecumenical. As he honored Christianity, Judaism and Islam, he recalled the "truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people." But the 43rd President went far beyond that. The speech used the language of the traditional Jewish liturgy to outline a breathtaking vision for the future of the world. The President and his speech writer, Michael Gerson, appear to have infused the text and tone...

SURELY some bright bulb from the Council on Foreign Relations in New York or the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton has already remarked that President Bush's inaugural address 10 days ago is the fourth corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. No? So many savants and not one peep out of the lot of them? Really?The president had barely warmed up: "There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants ... and that is the force of human freedom.... The survival of liberty in...

In his inaugural address, President Bush promised that “America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling.” His words and actions, however, indicate otherwise. According to media reports, large sectors of the Iraqi population will be excluded from the Jan. 30 elections. Iraq’s introduction to “democracy” will occur under U.S. military occupation and in a time of extreme danger and war. Democracy imposed with the threat of force is not democracy at all. It didn’t work in Puerto Rico a century ago, and it’s not going to work in Iraq this week. What’s the connection between Puerto...

In President Bush's speech, his writers showed their zeal to reach the status of "Most Remembered Historical Inauguration Speeches Ever" by a United States president. In doing this, they stole the style from the speeches of Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson. It is a pity his writers couldn't come up with original content and style that would deal with reality as we American citizens know it today. It is as though President Bush is in denial as to what is going around about him. He has said he never reads newspapers but relies on the people around...

Interesting Times: What the realists don't realize -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saul Singer, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 27, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We can be sure that there was jubilation among political prisoners all over the world as the news inevitably filtered through to them of the gauntlet thrown down to their tormentors by President George W. Bush. We know this, because we know how Natan Sharansky and his fellow inmates celebrated in the Soviet gulag when Ronald Reagan gave his "evil empire" speech. If there is panic, it is among a dominant school in Western foreign policy, the misnamed "realists." Swiftly riding to the...

In 2001, George W. Bush's hand wavered in the air as he took the oath of office, pushing against the words "so help me God." The speech that followed was humane and poetic, if uncertainly delivered; the President later admitted he had been pretty nervous. Bush's hand was rock solid last week as the oath was administered, his look calm and confident - but the speech that followed was far less accommodating than the one in 2001. It was, in fact, a fearsome statement of petulant idealism, a challenge to the nation and the world. It was a powerful and...

Sometimes, when a plain man speaks, those who are paid to analyze his words are instead mystified by them. In an elegant inaugural address last week, President Bush gave words to the deeds undertaken on the world's behalf by the United States and its military for the last hundred or so years; the spreading and defense of freedom. He spoke of our nation's founding and of the founders' assertion that all people have natural rights, chief among them that of liberty. And he spoke of the simple notion that liberty breeds peace and that this nation has not and will...

Local critics have found in President Bush's second inaugural address an excellent opportunity to remonstrate, revile, and ridicule the president. Only they've had to rewrite the speech to do it. On Friday, January 21, the day after Inauguration Day, John F. Harris published an "analysis" on the front page of the Washington Post which set the stage by citing unnamed authorities who maintained that the president had spoken in absolute and inflexible terms: "The immediate question, presidential scholars and foreign policy experts say, is … What to make of such idealistic and uncompromising language from an incumbent president? If taken...

<p>Many commentators have noted that President Bush’s Second Inaugural Address presented “lofty” themes, rather than “plans for specific action in his second term.” Some saw this as a virtue, that too little attention is paid to the long span of America’s civic life. Others saw this as over-reaching, and some objected especially to the many religious references in Bush’s speech.</p>

When you read that Jordan’s King Abdullah is taking steps to organize new elections in his country, with regional election districts that look a lot like Iraq’s, you realize just how wrong my friend Peggy Noonan is when she writes that President Bush’s inaugural speech “forgot context.” When you read the latest fatwa from the murdering terrorist Zarqawi, that it is our democratic, freedom-embracing way of life that makes us the enemy, you realize how wrong Noonan is in calling Bush’s vision of eradicating tyranny worldwide “rhetorical and emotional overreach of the most embarrassing sort.” When you recall FDR’s famous...

January 26, 2005 The Honorable George W. Bush President of the United States The White House Washington, DC 20500 Dear President Bush: Congratulations on beginning your second term as President of the United States. Your leadership will continue to inspire America for another four years. Many people around the world, including the Sikh Nation, were very impressed with your Inaugural Address. We agree with you that “the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world....