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04/01/2004
The Bush Foreign Policy
The following will probably be viewed as a campaign speech for
George W. Bush, and it basically is, but it’s also a good defense
of conservative foreign policy over the years. National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice gave this presentation on February 26
at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi, California. I promise to
present the other side when I see an appropriate speech by
candidate John Kerry or one of his surrogates.
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Clare Boothe Luce famously said that every President will be
remembered with a single sentence. My friend Peggy Noonan
updated the maxim, observing that Ronald Reagan was the one
President who knew the sentence he wanted going in – and he
got it. President Reagan lifted America’s spirits and led the Free
World to victory in the Cold War.
Ronald Reagan was President during a pivotal period in the
history of our country, and of the world. But unlike most
Presidents who face great crises, Ronald Reagan chose his
moment. He watched with alarm the rise of Soviet aggression
and adventurism in the 1970s and the corresponding decline in
American self-confidence and prestige. He saw clearly that if
those trends continued, not just America’s future, but the future
of freedom itself, would be imperiled. Ronald Reagan had a
vision for overcoming and reversing both. He would rebuild
America’s military strength, unleash the creativity of our
economy, and tell the truth about the Soviet Union.
That vision – and the determination with which President Reagan
pursued it – roiled world opinion at the time. It certainly roiled
the foreign policy establishment. I know that from firsthand
experience. As an arms control and Soviet specialist, I
remember the debates well. I participated in many of them.
I remember serving on a panel discussing the “Zero Option” –
the complete elimination of all U.S. and Soviet intermediate –
range ballistic missiles. This was in San Francisco, in the early
1980s, at the height of the “Nuclear Freeze” movement. I was a
young academic, just starting out. I like to think I was invited
because of my rising reputation. But it’s entirely possible that I
was the only person in the entire San Francisco Bay Area that the
sponsors could find to defend the Reagan Administration’s
policy. I defended that position as best I could, against an older
gentleman who strenuously argued that President Reagan and his
belligerent rhetoric were the real problems. Aggressive Soviet
behavior was understandable, given the threat that American
missiles to counter any increase in Soviet missiles – would only
make things worse, etc. I like to think that I won the debate. But
I have my doubts. Afterward, several women in the audience –
clearly Reagan opponents and Nuclear Freeze supporters –
approached me and thanked me for “doing so much for peace”
and for “standing up to that awful Reagan.” They looked at me
and saw a young, black female and just assumed that I had to be
an opponent of President Reagan. Clearly, they were unable to
see past the surface of things.
But in truth, we arms controllers were having trouble seeing past
the surface as well. We were fixated on a host of details:
megatons, MIRVS, throw weights, and verification measures.
We were absolutely determined to get the best possible deal with
the Soviets and, in retrospect, we missed the larger picture that
the President saw so clearly from the beginning. He challenged
the whole premise of arms control and the whole premise of
Soviet power. For him, arms control was always a means, not an
end. The ends he sought were nothing less than the end of the
Soviet Union, the liberation of Eastern Europe, and the victory of
liberty over tyranny. To achieve his ends, he had to challenge
most – if not all – of the received foreign policy wisdom of the
time. That is what great leaders do – and what only they can do.
Today, America is again fortunate enough to have such a leader
– and I am proud to serve him. President Bush’s foreign policy
is a bold new vision that draws inspiration from the ideas that
have guided America foreign policy at its best: that the spread of
democracy leads to peace, that democracies must never lack the
will or the means to meet and defeat freedom’s enemies, that
America’s power and purpose must be used to defend freedom.
These are principles that great leaders have put into practice
during challenging times – and these are challenging times.
Thus, the President calls on America to use our unparalleled
strength and influence to create a balance of power that favors
freedom. His vision stands on three pillars. First, we will defend
the peace by opposing and preventing violence by terrorists and
outlaw regimes. Second, we will preserve the peace by fostering
an era of good relations among the world’s great powers. And
third, we will extend the peace by seeking to extend the benefits
of freedom and prosperity across the globe.
Yet in the final analysis, President Bush’s vision begins from a
single, simple premise: As the President recently said, “Human
beings are not made by the Almighty God to live in tyranny.
When given a choice, people everywhere, from all walks of life,
from all religions, prefer freedom to violence and terror.”
This is a time when the defense of freedom has never been more
necessary, and it is a time when the opportunity for freedom’s
triumph has never been greater.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, were the greatest strategic
shock this country has suffered since Pearl Harbor. They
crystallized our vulnerability to plots hatched in distant lands,
that come without warning, bringing tragedy to our shores. They
made clear that sweeping threats under the rug is not an option.
President Bush saw the implications of this immediately. The
very day of the attacks – as smoke still rose from the Pentagon,
the rubble of the Twin Towers, and that field in Pennsylvania –
he told his advisors that the United States faced a new kind of
war and that the strategy of our government would be to take the
fight directly to the terrorists. That night, he announced to the
world that the United States would make no distinction between
the terrorists and the states that harbor them. President Bush
promised that America’s words would be credible. And he has
proved true to his word.
Since that day, over two-thirds of al Qaeda’s known leadership
have been captured or killed. The rest are on the run –
permanently. And we are working with governments around the
world to bring to justice al Qaeda’s associates – from Jemiya
Islamiya in Indonesia, to Abu Sayef in the Philippines, to Ansar
al-Islam in Iraq. Under President Bush’s leadership, the United
States and our allies have ended terror regimes in Afghanistan
and Iraq. All regimes are on notice – supporting terror is not a
viable strategy for the long term.
And of course, we must face our worst nightmare: the possibility
of a sudden, secret attack by chemical, biological, radiological,
or nuclear weapons and the coming together of the terrorist threat
with weapons of mass destruction. September 11 made clear our
enemies’ goals and provided painful experience of how far they
are willing to go to achieve them. From the terrorist’s own
boasts, we know that they would not hesitate to use the world’s
most terrible weapons. In fact, they would welcome it.
We cannot afford to allow the spread of weapons of mass
destruction to continue. For so many years, the world pretended
that important treaties like the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
were keeping this problem in check. For many years, the world
marked time while the proliferation threat gathered. For many
years, the world refused to live up to the many resolutions that it
passed.
The United States is now confronting the threat posed by the
spread of weapons of mass destruction with aggressive new
policies from which we are already seeing results. President
Bush has moved our Nation beyond antiquated theories like
“Mutual Assured Destruction” and moved forward with the
development and deployment of ballistic missile defense.
Deploying these defenses builds on the proud legacy of President
Reagan, who first set forth a vision to protect our Nation from
missile attack in a famous speech twenty-one years ago next
month.
The decision to hold the Iraqi regime accountable after twelve
years of defiance restored the credibility of the international
community. The President decided to confront proliferation
threats at their sources. The former Iraqi regime was not only a
state sponsor of terror. It was also for many years one of the
world’s premier WMD-producing states. For twelve years,
Iraq’s former dictator defied the international community,
refusing to disarm or to account for his illegal weapons and
programs. We know he had both because he used chemical
weapons against Iran and against his own people – because, long
after those attacks, he admitted having stocks and programs to
UN inspectors. The world gave Saddam one last chance to
disarm. He did not and now he is out of power.
The President’s strong policies are leading other regimes to turn
from the path of seeking weapons of mass murder. Diplomacy
succeeded in Libya – in part because no one can now doubt the
resolve and purpose of the United States and our allies. The
President’s policy gives regimes a clear choice – they can choose
to pursue dangerous weapons at great peril or they can renounce
such weapons and begin the process of rejoining the international
community.
Libya’s leader made the right choice, and other regimes should
follow his example. We are working with the international
community to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
And with our four partners in East Asia, we are insisting that
North Korea completely, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle its
nuclear programs.
As we advance a broad non-proliferation agenda, we also
recognize that determined proliferators cannot always be stopped
by diplomacy alone. But they can be stopped. Through the
President’s Proliferation Security Initiative, the United States and
a growing number of global partners are searching ships carrying
suspect cargo and, where necessary, seizing dangerous materials.
PSI has already proven its worth by stopping a shipment of
centrifuge parts bound for Libya last fall. Earlier this month, the
President also announced new proposals to close a loophole that
undermines the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to strengthen
anti-proliferation laws and norms, and tighten enforcement. We
must strengthen the world’s ability to keep dangerous weapons
out of the hands of outlaw regimes.
We now know, however, that there are two paths to weapons of
mass destruction – secretive and dangerous states that pursue
them and shadowy, private networks and individuals who also
traffic in these materials, motivated by greed or fanaticism or
both. And often these paths meet. The world recently learned of
the network headed by AQ Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear
weapons program. For years, Khan and his associates sold
nuclear technology and know-how to some of the world’s most
dangerous regimes, including North Korea and Iran. Working
with intelligence officials from the United Kingdom and other
nations, we unraveled the Khan network and are putting an end
to its criminal enterprise. Its key leaders – including AQ Khan –
are no longer in business, and we are working to dismantle the
entire network. Together, the civilized nations of the world will
bring to justice those who traffic in deadly weapons, shut down
their labs, seize their materials, and freeze their assets.
All of these efforts and many others require the close cooperation
of many nations. Across a range of issues, we are seeing exactly
that. I will not deny that there is a great deal of loud chatter out
there. But this noise is obscuring one of the most striking facts
of our time: the world’s great powers have never had better
relations with one another. And there has never been a lower
likelihood of great power conflict – with all the destruction and
disaster that entails – since the birth of the nation state in the
mid-17th century.
In Europe, the threat of another catastrophic, continental war –
omnipresent throughout most of the last century – has all but
disappeared. The vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace –
the dream of centuries – is closer to reality than at any time in
history. NATO and EU enlargement are erasing the last lines of
the Cold War and advancing freedom to all of Europe. In
Russia, we are seeing the path to democracy is uneven and the
nation’s success not yet assured. Yet, we are working closer than
ever with Russia on common problems. And our transatlantic
alliance is no longer preoccupied with existential threats and
massed armies poised to strike the Central European plain. In
fact, the Central and East European countries – once members of
the Warsaw Pact – have taken up their duties in the defense of
freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For many years, it was thought that it was not possible to have
good relations with all of Asia’s powers. It was thought that
good relations with China came at the expense of good relations
with our ally Japan – good relations with India came at the
expense of constructive engagement with Pakistan. This
President has changed this paradigm. Our Asian alliances have
never been stronger. Forces from Australia, Japan, South Korea,
Thailand, and the Philippines have made important contributions
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States has negotiated free
trade agreements with Singapore and Australia. We are working
the 21 nations of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum
on an ambitious agenda designed to bolster economic growth and
increase our common security. We are building a candid,
cooperative, and constructive relationship with China that
embraces our common interests but still recognizes our
considerable differences about values.
And President Bush has brought a new approach to American
policy toward Africa and Latin America. He sees these regions
not as problems to be solved, but as opportunities to be
embraced. The Millennium Challenge Account is
revolutionizing the way America provides aid to developing
countries by linking new assistance to good governance,
investment in people, and economic freedom. And the
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – a five-year, $15 billion
initiative – will help to prevent seven million new infections,
treat at least two million people with life-extending drugs, and
provide care for ten million more people affected by the disease.
This Administration’s record of engagement with African leaders
is unprecedented for a first-term president. We are working with
leaders throughout the continent to fight terror, advance
democracy, spread prosperity, and solve regional conflicts. The
President’s leadership in forging peace in Africa has brought
hope to Liberians, Congolese, and Sudanese for the first time in
many decades.
In our own neighborhood, President Bush is committed to a
vision of a fully democratic Western hemisphere, bound by
common values and free trade. And his commitment has yielded
results. We have re-energized negotiations on the Free Trade of
the Americas agreement, and have completed Free Trade
Agreements with Chile and five other Central American
democracies.
Yet, as we move forward with this ambitious agenda, we must
never lose sight of a central truth: Lasting peace and long-term
security are only possible through the advance of liberty and
justice. Military power alone cannot protect us from the defining
threats of this or any time. The War on Terror, like the Cold
War, is as much a conflict of visions as a struggle of armed force.
All of the early heroes of the Cold War – Truman, and Churchill,
and Adenauer – understood this. Decades later, we seemed
poised to forget it, viewing the Soviet Union as just another state
with interests, and its continued existence – even permanence –
as inevitable. Ronald Reagan peeled back the layers of
complacency surrounding d tente and saw that underneath, the
Soviet Union had not changed, that the moral element of the
early Cold War was as important as ever. President Reagan re-
infused the Cold War with moral purpose. And that renewed
sense of purpose allowed the free world to prevail.
President Bush sees clearly that the terrorist ideology is the direct
heir to communism, and Nazism, and fascism, and all the
murderous ideologies of the 20th century. The struggle against
terror is fundamentally a struggle of visions and values. The
terrorists offer suicide, and death, and pseudo-religious tyranny.
America and our allies seek to advance the cause of liberty and
defend the dignity of every person. We seek, in President Bush’s
words, “the advance of freedom, and the peace that freedom
brings.”
That means, above all, addressing what leading Arab
Intellectuals have called the “freedom deficit” in the Middle
East. The stakes could not be higher. If the Middle East is to
leave behind stagnation, and tyranny, and violence for export,
then freedom must flourish in every corner of the region.
That is why the United States is pursuing a forward strategy of
freedom for the Middle East. Freedom must be freely chosen –
and we will seek out and work with those in the Middle East who
believe in the values, and habits, and institutions of liberty, and
who desire to see the rule of law, freedom of the press, religious
liberty, respect for women, limits on the power of the state, and
economic opportunity thrive in their own nations. We reject the
cultural condescension which alleges that Arabs or Muslims are
somehow not interested in freedom, or aren’t ready for freedom’s
responsibilities. We will refuse to excuse tyranny. We will
insist on higher standards from our friends in the region. And we
will enlist support from our allies in the region, and beyond.
Iraq and Afghanistan are vanguards of this effort. Fifty million
people have been liberated from two of the most brutal and
dangerous tyrannies of our time. With the help of over sixty
nations, the Iraqi and Afghan peoples are now struggling to build
democracies, under difficult conditions, in the rocky soil of the
Middle East. In January, Afghanistan approved a new and
progressive constitution. And later this year, the Afghan people
will hold national elections. Every day Iraqis take more
responsibility for their nation’s security – from guarding
facilities, to policing their streets, to rebuilding the infrastructure
that Saddam Hussein neglected for decades. The Iraqi people are
making daily progress toward democracy. Our coalition is
working with the Iraqi Governing Council to draft a basic law,
with a bill of rights. And we are working with Iraqis and the
United Nations to prepare for a transition to full Iraqi
sovereignty.
In Iraq, the work of building democracy is opposed by hold-outs
among their former oppressors and by foreign terrorists. These
killers seek to advance their ideology of murder by halting all
progress toward democracy and a better future. They are trying
to shake the will of our country and our friends. They are killing
innocent Iraqis. They are sowing a reign of terror. But we and
the people of Iraq will never be intimidated by thugs and
assassins because America and her forces will stay the course
until the job is done.
The world is watching. The failure of democracy in Iraq and
Afghanistan would condemn millions to misery and embolden
terrorists around the world. The defeat of terror and the success
of freedom in those nations will serve the interests of our Nation
because free nations do not sponsor terror and do not breed the
ideologies of murder. And success will serve our ideals, as free
and democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan inspire
hope and encourage reform throughout the greater Middle East.
We cannot falter and we will not fail.
These principles of freedom must also apply to the conflict
between Palestinians and Israelis. President Bush is the first
American president to issue a clear call for a Palestinian state.
And he is the first to state plainly that there can be no peace for
either side until there is freedom for both sides. The nature of
any Palestinian state and the quality of its leadership and
institutions matter at least as much as its borders. Palestinian
leaders must embrace democracy. They must not tolerate
corruption, and they must fight terrorism. For its part, Israel
must help create conditions for a Palestinian state to emerge. It
must do nothing to pre-judge the outcome of a final status
agreement. And, it must do more to improve the lives of the
Palestinian people, removing the daily humiliations that harden
the hearts of future generations.
The work of building democracy in these nations is hard, and
success will require the work of a generation. Winning the Cold
War was not easy, either, and it took forty years, but the free
world’s alliance of strength and conviction prevailed because we
never abandoned our values or our responsibilities. As in the
Cold War, progress may at times seem halting and uneven.
Times of the greatest strategic importance can also be times of
great turbulence. It is always easier for Presidents, no less than
citizens, to do the expected thing – to follow the accepted path.
Boldness is always criticized, change is always suspect, and
Presidents from Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, to Harry Truman,
to Ronald Reagan knew that history is the final judge. And I can
tell you, like those Presidents, this President knows that his
obligation is not to the daily headlines but to securing the peace
and that it is history that will be the final judge.
I remember serving on the National Security Council staff a
dozen years ago, when the Berlin Wall fell, the Warsaw Pact
dissolved, and the Soviet Union gave way to a free Russia. It
was, of course, exhilarating to be in government at such a time
and part of me felt some small measure of pride. But that pride
quickly gave way to a humble awe for the giants who faced the
great challenges of the post-World War II moment – the
Trumans, the Marshals, the Achesons, the Kennans – and to
those who re-imagined and revitalized the struggle: Ronald
Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl, and George Herbert
Walker Bush.
These men and women – in the most uncertain of times, amidst
often noisy acrimony – made decisions that would bear fruit only
years, in some cases decades, later. My colleagues and I were
simply reaping the harvest that they had sown.
That harvest – a safer, freer, better world – is no less our hope for
the decisions the United States and our allies and friends are
making today. Realizing this vision may take decades. It
certainly will not happen on my watch, or on this President’s
watch. It will require a commitment of many years.
But the effort and the wait will be worth it.
[Source: U.S. Department of State]
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Hott Spotts will return April 8.
Brian Trumbore
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