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Quotational Therapy: Part 69 -- President Bush's 2003 State Of The Union Address.

Bush & Freedom, Not After The Fact-

We often hear critics of President Bush comment that "this whole freedom thing" is but an after-the-fact justification of the Iraq war, after warehouses full of weapons of mass destruction were not uncovered there. President Bush has been committed to the advance of freedom, however sloppy, however uncertain, however challenging, all along.

As the President prepares to address Congress regarding The State of the Union on Tuesday night, let's look back on the still-relevant 2003 SOTUA (emphasis mine):

On Iran-

Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue to see a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction, and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and determine their own destiny -- and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom.

On Iraq-

And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom.

On Liberty-

Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity.

It was a truly remarkable speech, yet the only time it is ever mentioned in the news today is to dispute this line:

The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

That's a line the British are still standing by as the truth. It's also the line that led CIA Agent Valerie Plame to send her husband, the ever-pompous partisan Democrat Joe Wilson, to Niger on a mission of "let's undermine and discredit the administration." Wilson, not alone, went to Africa, drank some tea, came home, wrote a misleading op-ed that contradicted the findings of those on his trip that did the actual legwork, and the rest is history.

Previous Quotational Therapy Session:

Ronald Wilson Reagan's First Inaugural Address.

The right quote can be therapeutic, so tune in to WILLisms.com for quotational therapy on Monday and Friday.

Posted by Will Franklin · 30 January 2006 05:59 PM

Comments

Posted by: thomas at January 31, 2006 09:18 AM