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08/24/2006
President Bush, War Update
On August 14, President George W. Bush gave his most
extensive policy statement on the “war on terror” in quite some
time. I’ll reserve my own thoughts for my “Week in Review”
column.
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Today I met with members of my national security team, both
here at the State Department and at the Pentagon.
I want to, first of all, thank the leadership of Secretary Condi
Rice and Secretary Don Rumsfeld.
During those discussions, we talked about the need to transform
our military to meet the threats of the 21st century. We discussed
the global war on terror. We discussed the situation on the
ground in three fronts of the global war on terror: in Lebanon and
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Friday’s UN Security Council resolution on Lebanon is an
important step forward that will help bring an end to the
violence.
The resolution calls for a robust international force to deploy to
the southern part of the country to help Lebanon’s legitimate
armed forces restore the sovereignty of its democratic
government over all Lebanese territory.
As well, the resolution is intended to stop Hizbullah from acting
as a state within the state.
We’re now working with our international partners to turn the
words of this resolution into action. We must help people in both
Lebanon and Israel return to their homes and begin rebuilding
their lives without fear of renewed violence and terror.
America recognizes that civilians in Lebanon and Israel have
suffered from the current violence.
And we recognize that responsibility for this suffering lies with
Hizbullah. It was an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah on Israel
that started this conflict.
Hizbullah terrorists targeted Israeli civilians with daily rocket
attacks. Hizbullah terrorists used Lebanese civilians as human
shields, sacrificing the innocent in an effort to protect themselves
from Israeli response.
Responsibility for the suffering of the Lebanese people also lies
with Hizbullah’s state sponsors, Iran and Syria. The regime in
Iran provides Hizbullah with financial support, weapons and
training.
Iran has made clear that it seeks the destruction of Israel. We
can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would
be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks.
Syria’s another state sponsor of Hizbullah. Syria allows Iranian
weapons to pass through its territory into Lebanon. Syria permits
Hizbullah’s leaders to operate out of Damascus and gives
political support to Hizbullah’s cause.
Syria supports Hizbullah because it wants to undermine
Lebanon’s democratic government and regain its position of
dominance in the country. That would be a great tragedy for the
Lebanese people and for the cause of peace in the Middle East.
Hizbullah and its foreign sponsors also seek to undermine the
prospects for peace in the Middle East.
Hizbullah terrorists kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Hamas
kidnapped another Israeli soldier for a reason: Hizbullah and
Hamas reject a vision of two democratic states, Israel and
Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
Both groups want to disrupt the progress being made toward that
vision by Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas and others
in the region. We must not allow terrorists to prevent elected
leaders from working together toward a comprehensive peace
agreement in the Middle East.
The conflict in Lebanon is part of a broader struggle between
freedom and terror that is unfolding across the region. For
decades, American policy sought to achieve peace in the Middle
East by promoting stability in the Middle East.
Yet, the lack of freedom in the region meant anger and
resentment grew, radicalism thrived, and terrorists found willing
recruits. We saw the consequences on September 11, 2001, when
terrorists brought death and destruction to our country, killing
nearly 3,000 of our citizens.
So we launched a forward strategy of freedom in the broader
Middle East. And that strategy has helped bring hope to millions
and fostered the birth of young democracies from Baghdad to
Beirut.
Forces of terror see the changes that are taking place in their
midst. They understand that the advance of liberty, the freedom
to worship, the freedom to dissent, the protection of human rights
would be a defeat for their hateful ideology.
But they also know that young democracies are fragile and that
this may be their last and best opportunity to stop freedom’s
advance and steer newly free nations to the path of radical
extremism.
So the terrorists are striking back with all the destructive power
that they can muster. It’s no coincidence that two nations that
are building free societies in the heart of the Middle East –
Lebanon and Iraq – are also the scenes of the most violent
terrorist activity.
Some say that America caused the current instability in the
Middle East by pursuing a forward strategy of freedom, yet
history shows otherwise.
We didn’t talk much about freedom or the freedom agenda in the
Middle East before September 11th, 2001; or before Al Qaeda
first attacked the World Trade Center and blew up our embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania in the 1990s; or before Hizbullah killed
hundreds of Americans in Beirut and Islamic radicals held
American hostages in Iran in the 1980s.
History’s clear: The freedom agenda did not create the terrorists
or their ideology, but the freedom agenda will help defeat them
both.
Some say that the violence and instability we see today means
that the people of this troubled region are not ready for
democracy. I disagree. Over the past five years people across
the Middle East have bravely defied the car bombers and
assassins to show the world that they want to live in liberty.
We see the universal desire for liberty in the 12 million Iraqis
who faced down the terrorists to cast their ballots and elected a
free government under a democratic constitution.
We see the universal desire for liberty in 8 million Afghans who
lined up to vote for the first democratic government in the long
history of their country.
We see the universal desire for liberty in 8 million Afghans who
lined up to vote for the first democratic government in the long
history of their country.
We see the universal desire for liberty in the Lebanese people,
who took to the streets to demand their freedom and help drive
Syrian forces out of their country.
The problem in the Middle East today is not that people lack the
desire for freedom. The problem is that young democracies that
they have established are still vulnerable to terrorists and their
sponsors.
One vulnerability is that many of the new democratic
governments in the region have not yet established effective
control over all their territory. In both Lebanon and Iraq, elected
governments are contending with rogue armed groups that are
seeking to undermine and destabilize them.
In Lebanon, Hizbullah declared war on Lebanon’s neighbor
Israel without the knowledge of the elected government in
Beirut. In Iraq, Al Qaeda and death squads engage in brutal
violence to undermine the unity government.
And in both these countries, Iran is backing armed groups in the
hope of stopping democracy from taking hold.
The message of this administration is clear: America will stay on
the offense against Al Qaeda. Iran must stop its support for
terror.
And the leaders of these armed groups must make a choice: If
they want to participate in the political life of their countries,
they must disarm. Elected leaders cannot have one foot in the
camp of democracy and one foot in the camp of terror.
The Middle East is at a pivotal moment in its history. The death
and destruction we see shows how determined the extremists are
to stop just and modern societies from emerging in the region.
Yet millions of people in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan and
elsewhere are equally determined to live in peace and freedom.
They have tired of the false promises and grand illusions of
radical extremists. They reject the hateful vision of the terrorists,
and they dream of a better future for their children and their
grandchildren.
We’re determined to help them achieve that dream. America’s
actions have never been guided by territorial ambition. We seek
to advance the cause of freedom in the Middle East because we
know the security of the region and our own security depend on
it. We know that free nations are America’s best partners for
peace and the only true anchors for stability.
So we’ll continue to support reformers inside and outside
governments who are working to build the institutions of liberty.
We’ll continue to confront terrorist organizations and their
sponsors who destroy innocent lives. We’ll continue to work for
the day when a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine are
neighbors in a peaceful and secure Middle East.
The way forward’s going to be difficult. It will require more
sacrifice. But we can be confident of the outcome because we
know and understand the unstoppable power of freedom.
In a Middle East that grows in freedom and democracy, people
will have a chance to raise their families and live in peace and
build a better future. In a Middle East that grows in freedom and
democracy, the terrorists will lose their recruits and lose their
sponsors and lose safe havens from which to launch new attacks.
In a Middle East that grows in freedom and democracy there will
be no room for tyranny and terror, and that will make America
and other free nations more secure.
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Hott Spotts will return Aug. 31.
Brian Trumbore
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