Re: [Assam] Liberty and Justice for All?

[D Deka]

People in Texas know George W. Bush wants to be a great president (don't they all?), better than his Dad. Dad George and Mom Barbara have always been pushing their first born. But the doubt remains even in the Texan minds - is he capable of achieving it? Will he get the time to get out of Iraq and get re elected?

 

I think George Bush was moved deeply by 9/11and wants to provide long term security to the American people. Also it looks like he honestly believes only way he can achieve that,  is by changing the way of thinking in the islamic world,  through westernization. Democracy or the talk of it is just the vehicle for it. Iraq with a fairly large educated  and trained population and with the history of its leader's hostility to USA, seemed like a good and easy place to start from. I am sure he gambled that Iraq's oil would pay for the transformation. But did he start at the right place?

 

My wife Dil always brings up a good point- what then prevents Mr. Bush from radically changing Pakistan and rooting out islamic fundamentalism and terrorism at the source. She also gives me the answer that it will make India too strong to USA's liking. I haven't heard that theory anywhere else but it seems to make sense. Now let me ask you all a question:  What prevents almighty USA from swooping down on Pakistan that has been a training ground for terrorism of all kinds and for terrorists from all over the world? I have seen many articles recommending action in Pakistan, to White House, but haven't seen any article that analyzes the reasons for not doing it.

 

Next let me ask another question- Do you think 9/11, the events that preceded and the events that followed are manifestations of a covert struggle between Islamism and Christianity to be the premier religion?

 

Dilip Deka

Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

What do YOU think Dilip :-)?










At 6:04 AM -0800 11/10/03, D Deka wrote:
>Is there anyone here who believes this columnist's interpretation? Let's
>hear. Dilip
>
>The Age of Liberty
>
>By WILLIAM SAFIRE
>
>Published: November 10, 2003
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> RELATED
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> Text: In Bush's Words: 'Iraqi Democracy Will Succeed' (November 6, 2003)
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>>19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=BUSH%2C+GEORGE+W&rt=1%2Cdes%2
>Corg%2Cper%2Cgeo>Bush, George W
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>>AL+RELATIONS&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=UNITED+STATE
>S+INTERNATIONAL+RELATIONS&rt=1%2Cdes%2Corg%2Cper%2Cgeo>United States
>International Relations
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>EW ORLEANS
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>
>With a strong sense of history, George W. Bush last week made the case for
>"a forward strategy" of idealism in American foreign policy. He dared to
>place his Big Idea � what has become the central theme and purpose of his
>presidency � in the direct line of aspirations expressed by three of the
>past century's most far-seeing and controversial U.S. presidents.
>
>
>
>He evoked Woodrow Wilson trying to make the world safe for democracy in
>1918; then F.D.R. in 1941 giving hope of freedom to peoples enslaved by
>Nazism; finally, Ronald Reagan telling a skeptical Britain's Parliament in
>1982 that a historic turning point had been reached and Communist tyranny
>could not stop the march of freedom. "From the Fourteen Points to the Four
>Freedoms, to the Speech at Westminster, America has put our power at the
>service of principle," Bush said. "The advance of freedom is the calling
>of our time."
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>
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>That is called a theme. Did he develop that theme in his speech,
>marshaling his arguments both rationally and evocatively at a time of
>crisis? Did he succeed in setting his vision of our mission in the world
>before the American people in a detailed, coherent and inspiring way
>worthy of rallying their support?
>
>
>
>I think he did � not only because I agree that protecting and extending
>freedom has always been America's "calling," but because I was able to
>read and re-read the serious speech in its entirety.
>
>
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>You have probably not had that opportunity. Most people did not have the
>chance to catch the whole speech on cable, and found only snippets on
>broadcast TV; the longest excerpt of the half-hour address ran less than
>four minutes on prime-time network news.
>
>
>
>Some newspapers front-paged accounts of the news in the speech, noting
>departure from the realpolitik of Nixon, the elder Bush and others: "Sixty
>years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in
>the Middle East did nothing to make us safe � because in the long run,
>stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty." But not even The
>Times gave readers the chance to study the full text in the paper. (It's
>on the Times Web site at
>www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/politics/06TEXT-BUSH.html.)
>
>
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>This speech clearly articulated the policy this Bush will be remembered
>for. If you are interested in knowing where he wants to take this country
>and why, you will find it worth reading all the way through. Reading
>summaries and excerpts and critiques lets editors and analysts do the
>thinking for you. Film snippets of applause lines won't help you grasp the
>import, which you should have even if you want to disagree knowledgeably.
>A carefully constructed speech, like a poem or a brief or a piece of
>music, has a shape that helps makes it memorable. Bush's "age of liberty"
>address begins on a note of historical optimism: "We've witnessed, in
>little over a generation, the swiftest advance of freedom in the
>2,500-year story of democracy . . . It is no accident that the rise of so
>many democracies took place in a time when the world's most influential
>nation was itself a democracy." (He chose "influential" rather than
>"powerful" to stress our democratic example.)
>
>
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>Then he takes us on a tour d'horizon of the state of freedom today: from
>"outposts of oppression" like Cuba, Burma, North Korea and Zimbabwe to
>China with its "sliver, a fragment of liberty," to the West Bank leaders
>who are "the main obstacles to peace." Egypt, having "shown the way toward
>peace" (under Sadat) "now should show the way toward democracy."
>
>
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>He returns to his opening theme in dealing with Iraq, where failure "would
>embolden terrorists around the world," but where "a free Iraq in the heart
>of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic
>revolution." (Failure gets the conditional "would," but success the
>certain "will.")
>
>
>
>But let me not join the summarizers. Invest a half-hour in reading this
>moving exposition of the noble goal of American foreign policy. And note
>the subtlety in Bush's concluding reference to the deity in underscoring
>our opportunity in this age of liberty: "And as we meet the terror and
>violence of the world, we can be certain the author of freedom is not
>indifferent to the fate of freedom."
>
>
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