In stunning contrast to the "bold" Dem Security Initiative, read the President's Address to Freedom House earlier this week. It's long, but read the whole thing. You'll be tempted to skim because at the start it seems like he's going to give the same Defense speech he's been giving more or less for three years. But stick with it, especially when he gets to:
these are fair questions, and today I'll do my best to answer them.
This is by far the most detailed account I have seen of the situation in Iraq and what we hope to achieve. And then there is an absolutely masterful Q& A session that's so wide-ranging I don't know what to quote. Then, while you're at it, read Tony Blair's speech before the Australian Parliament Monday.
He also, not incidentally, stuck up for us.If we want to secure our way of life, there is no alternative but to fight for it.
I don't always agree with Blair. I don't even always agree with Bush. But read them and then think about the "bold" Democratic agenda. It's as if Bush & Blair are a different order of man altogether from the people who crafted the latter.I do not always agree with the US. Sometimes they can be difficult friends to have. But the strain of, frankly, anti-American feeling in parts of European and in world politics is madness when set against the long-term interests of the world we believe in.
The danger with America today is not that they are too much involved. The danger is that they decide to pull up the drawbridge and disengage. We need them involved. We want them engaged. The reality is that none of the problems that press in on us can be resolved or even contemplated without them.
