"The trumpet of freedom has been sounded, and that trumpet never calls retreat," says GW in a progress report on the War on Terror at the National Defense University in Washington this morning.
"Arab TV stations all broke away from pro-puppet-government demonstrations in Beirut this morning to show President Bush's major policy speech instead," reports FOXNews' JenniferGriffin -- no split screens. GW repeated his call on Syria to completely withdraw its military forces and intelligence personnel from Lebanon and praised the Lebanese people. Excerpts (rough transcript live):
Twice in six decades a sudden attack on the United States launched our country into a global conflict and began a period of serious reflection on America's place in the world. The bombing of Pearl Harbor taught America that unopposed tyranny, even on faraway continents, could draw our country into a struggle for our own survival. And our reflection on that lesson led us to help build peaceful democracies in the ruins of tyranny.
The attacks of September 11, 2001 also revealed the outlines of a new world . . . provided a warning of future dangers, of terror networks aided by outlaw regimes. Like an earlier generation, America is answering new dangers with firm resolve . . . We will fight the enemy and lift the shadow of fear and lead free nations to victory.
Our immediate strategy is to destroy terrorist threats abroad so they don't threaten us here at home . . . we will keep the terrorists on the run until they have nowhere left to hide. We will stay on the offensive against them until the fight is won.
Global terror requires a global response, and America is more secure today because dozens of other countries have stepped up to the fight. The entire world has an interest in the freedom of the broader Middle East . . . authoritarian rule is not the wave of the future. It the last gasp of a discredited past . . . Economic progress requires political modernization, including honest representative government and the rule of law . . . no society can advance with only half of its talent and energy. And that demands the full participation of women.
It should be clear that the advance of democracy leads to peace . . . decades of excusing and accommodating tyranny in the pursuit of stability have only led to injustice and instability and tragedy . . . Yet at last, clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun . . . Any who doubt the appeal of freedom in the Middle East can look at Lebanon. If it is successful in Lebanon, it is going to ring the doors of every Middle East regime. A businessman in Beirut said "We have removed the mask of fear." When the people find their courage and their voice, the tyrants themselves have reason to fear. Leaders in the Middle East have important choices to make. The free nations of the world have presented the Syrian Government with one of those choices. The time has come for Syria to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559. They must withdraw all forces from Lebanon. The Lebanese people have the right to determine their future free of intimidation.
Today I have a message for the people of Lebanon. By your courage, Lebanon's future will be in your hands. The American people are on your side. Millions across the Earth are on your side. The momentum of freedom is on your side.
Syria as well as Iran has a history of supporting terrorist groups. The time has come for Syria and Iran to stop using murder as a tool of policy . . . Arab states must end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, stop their support for extremist education and establish normal relations with Israel . . . Each country will take a different path of reform, and every nation that starts on that journey can know that America will walk at its side.
We look forward to the day when the Iranian people are free. Iran and other nations have an example in Iraq.
Those pro-Syrian protesters in Lebanon -- "answering a nationwhide call by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbolla group for a public demonstration . . . to counter weeks of huge rallies demanding the immediate exit of Syrian forces," according to FOXNews -- are making us nervous, of course, even as Syrian occupying forces start retreating as if in compliance with that UN resolution toward the eastern border. At first glance, we thought we were looking at just one more ANTI-Syrian demonstration, but no. As one of the talking heads noted with optimism just before the President's speech, the huge PRO-Syrian crowds are waving flags -- Lebanese flags -- not guns.
Transcript of the President's speech.
Thanks for the in depth coverage of the President's speech. Didn't get a chance to watch it.
Posted by: goomp | March 08, 2005 at 03:29 PM