BY MATTHEW ROSENBERG
KABUL—Add another group to the list of people with a message for the newly elected U.S. Congress: the Taliban.
In a rambling "open letter" to Congress, the Taliban's spokesman said he wanted to present American lawmakers with "a true picture of the ground realities" of the war in Afghanistan, which he insisted the U.S. can't win.
The spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousaf Ahmadi, called on Congress to send a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, apparently ignorant of the fact that representatives and senators visit Afghanistan all the time. But American lawmakers rarely leave heavily guarded U.S. facilities, moving only in armored convoys, ..."
I don't have a subscript. to WSJ; but do have then President Bush's Speech to Emerald at Queensridge; Las Vegas, NV 1/31/08: "President Bush Discusses Global War on Terror in Las Vegas" on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan; plus "..advocacy of open markets, ownership -homes, medical care accounts, pension plans; with "government ought to trust people and empower them to make their own decisions about their future".
President George W.Bush: "The world in which we live is a dangerous world, but a world full of great opportunity. We're involved in an ideological struggle -- the likes of which we have seen before in our history. It's an ideological struggle between those of [US(A)] who love freedom and human rights and human dignity, and those who want to impose their dark vision on how people should live their lives. This is a --not a plitical conflict -- I mean, a religious conflict. and I'll tell you why: because one of the tactics, and the main tactic of these enemies of freedom, is to murder the innocent to achieve their objectives. Religious people do not murder the innocent. ...
... the freedom movement is on the march. I'm not surprised, and you shouldn't be either. I believe there is an Almighty. I believe the gift of that Almighty to every man, woman and child is freedom. I believe that people, if given a chance, will always go to freedom -- and that's what you're beginning to see. ...
And yet every time freedom tries to advance, these ideologues murder innocent people -- in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Israel, in Palestine. People who can't stand the thought of free societies unleash their hatred by killing innocent people. and the great challenge facing America and the world is, one, will we recognize the challenge? Do we understand the consequences of success and failure? and will the United States be bold and stay in the lead?...
.... We will prevail in this ideological struggle because liberty is powerful. Liberty is hopeful. The enemy we face can only convince people to join their cause is when they find hopelessness. And so our strategy is threefold: one, protect the homeland; two, stay on the offense against these folks; and three, provide an alternative -- a hopeful alternative to despair and doubt and hopelessness. The first -- our most important job -- ....whether it be the federal government, state government, or local government -- is to protect you. ... and remember the lessons of September the 11th: that oceans cannot protect us, that we face cold-blooded killers who, in our case, resorted to mass murder to send a message (a mosque in Ground Zero!!! -- Americans say and mean 'NO"!). ....hasn't been an attack on our homeland since then. That's not for the lack of effort by these evil people.
I hope you take heart in knowing there are a lot of really fine people working long, long hours to get the best information possible to protect the homeland. ...unbelievably dedicated folks. ...we owe these folks a debt of gratitude. And we owe them more -- we owe them the tools necessary to protect the American people.
And one such tool in this different kind of war is to fully understand the intentions, the motives, the plans of people who use suicide and bombs to kill the innocent. If these terrorists and extremists are making phone calls into our country, we need to know why they're calling, what they're thinking, and what they're planning......And one such tool is a surveillance program that guarantees the rights of our citizens, but doesn't extend those same guarantees to those who would do US harm (think AZ & cartels - as well) to those who would do [US(A)} harm. [ At this speech, Pres. Bush signed a 15 day extension as an Executive Order the "Protect America Act"] -- expecting the Democratic Majority & with Republicans to get this work done so our professionals can protect the American people.
The second part is to stay on the offense against these folks -- I mean every day stay on the offense; an unrelenting effort to find them and bring them to justice. It's hard to plot, plan and attack America if you're running and hiding. It's hard to recruit if you're cutting off money. It is hard to spread your poison if other reasonable people join the cause. And so we spend a lot of time doing everything we can to keep the pressure on these folks. And we got some good people working it.
I repeat to you, I know there's some good folks who think this is just simply a law enforcement matter. It is not. This is an effort that requires all assets of the United States, and requires coalitions working together.....America must not relent. If our most important job is to protect the American people, we have got to stay on the offense, and defeat the enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.
The third part of our strategy is to spread liberty. [tells of then Prime Minister Koizumi] ..Even more remarkable was the fact that the United States had no stronger ally in defeating terror, no stronger ally than understanding the power of freedom to be transformative. I say "no stronger ally" -- Tony Blair was strong; there was a lot. [hatred between japan after Pearl Harbor.] ..
and yet 60 years later, the son of a Navy fighter pilot was sitting at the table with the Prime Minister of the former enemy, strategising on how to win this ideological war. I find it ironic. The summary I've come away with is that liberty is transformative. People want to be free and, if given the chance, will be free, do the hard work necessary to be free. And liberty has got the capacity to transform an enemy to an ally.
and therefore we ought to have confidence in liberty's power to bring the peace we want, and not shy away from helping people realize the great blessings of freedom. We've got to be confident in the transformative powers of liberty, recognizing that deep in everybody's soul is the desire to be free. I recognize...there are some in the world who dismiss the capacity of liberty to take hold in parts of the world. There used to be a foreign policy that advocated stability as the cornerstone of our policy. But stability just masks the hopelessness that seethed beneath the surface. If you believe this is an ideological struggle like I do, then is's paramount to help people realize a different ideology than that of the enemy. And that's what you're seeing unfold.
and the two most evident places that that's happening right now is in Afghanistan and Iraq. ... these aren't separate, you know,wars; they're part of the same war; different theaters, certainly different circumstances, but the outcome is essential for our security. ...
In Afghanistan -- the interesting lesson on Afghanistan for the world to see is that how the vision of the enemy would be implemented -- in other words, these poor folks had the Taliban as their oppressors. The Taliban also, as you might remember, provided safe haven to those who came and attacked us. But if you lived in Afghanistan in those days and were a mom of a child -- particularly a female child -- you had no hope. These thugs didn't believe in freedoms, they didn't believe in women having equal status, they didn't believe young girls should be educated. And if you dared express your opinion that didn't mesh with theirs, you'd be whipped in the public square or killed. These are brutal people. That's the vision that these folks have for the world. ["the absurd notion that a few men govern the many people. G. Washington"]
I think the United States needs to take that vision seriously. I think it's in our best interest to liberate people. I think it's in our interest that when we find human suffering we help deal with it. In Afghanistan I am proud to report that the United States of america thanks to a brave military, liberated 25 million people and gave them a chance to realize the blessings of liberty. Since liberation from the Taliban and since al Qaeda was routed out of that country, where they no longer had a safe havens t plot and plan an attack, the people of Afghanistan voted for a President; the voted for a parliament; girls now go to school; highways are being built; health clinics are being constructed around the country.
Is it a perfect government? No, but then neither were we. ...Afghanistan is working on their -- democracy. And it's hard work. It's not easy. It doesn't happen overnight. But it's in our interest to help them. It's in our interest to help them because we believe liberty is transformative. And a part of the world that was once a safe haven for an enemy that attacked us will be a more hopeful place when freedom takes hold.
....And the reason why is because this enemy is relentless in trying to overthrow this democracy, and it's in our interest to stop them. See, we've got to do the hard work now to make sure that a future generation of Americans can grow up in peace.
...Iraq.... I had to make a tough decision. And the decision I made was based on the considered judgment of military people, considered judgment of a lot of folks who were following Iraq. It was not based upon any Gallup poll or focus group. It was based upon what was right for the future of the United States, and that is, as opposed to pulling troops out, send mre in. ...
Our surge, by the way, was more than just military. We surged diplomats and public service officials, provincial reconstruction teams to make sure that in neighborhoods where an enemy had been routed -- and we have folks there, along with the Iraqis, to provide the security.... -- that there was also a opportunity to improve life for the average citizen. ...and I don't know whether a lot of our citizens understand this, 80,000 local citizens stepped up and said, we want to help patrol our own neighborhoods; we're sick and tired of violence and extremists.
[more on Iraq economics future security government...and why watching growth from a tyrannical government that left the nation without infrastructure or leadership, which had fallen apart; to a country starting to rebuild itself. with its citizens having a say for the first time ..]
Back home... And by the way, I'm going to do something about earmarks. I signed an executive order the other day, basically saying if you slip these -- slip this spending into bills that don't get debated or voted on, we're not going to spend your money. And this executive order will -- Let me rephrase that: The money will be spent, but just not on those projects necessarily. Not on those projects necessarily. And this executive order goes beyond my presidency.
..Iraq... What I'm telling you is you're watching a democracy evolve. You're watching people become more confident in their ability to self-govern. and it's important we help them. ...and it's important that we help them as a part of this freedom movement. People have said, freedom can't take hold in the Middle East. I strongly disagree. I believe freedom will take hold in the Middle East, and Iraq is an essential part of this strategy......Success in Iraq will mean that we'll have an ally in this struggle against extremists in the Middle East. Failure will embolden Iran.
.....It is vital for this generation to assume the responsibilities of peace and take the lead, so that when we look back 30 or 40 years from now people will say, thank goodness America didn't lose faith in liberty. Thank goodness they didn't abandon a value system that they believe is universal. ..."
Thank goodness that we have had a leader who recognizes "He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. (Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First -Principles of Government, December 23, 1791)".
It is always an amazing and delightful experience to find in not so far back history to ancient history and The Bible, a never ending reinforcement of the principles of "religion and morality" with the nature of mankind.
