Regarding Bush's Speech in the Institute of Peace

Latest Presidential Speech delivered here

"Struggle against Soviet Communism; a struggle that was eventually won by freedom because of peace through strength, and because of the help of the Institute of Peace."

Umm, not that I am defending Stalinist Russia, but his logic of winning the cold war was actually supporting Islamist radical groups against the allies of Russia. Some evolved to become al-Qa'eda, others were dictators like Saudi Arabia and Pinochet, enslaving the 3rd World with sweatshops, and of course giving the OK on Israel's policy to allow the Muslim Brotherhood (which became Hamas in the 1980s) to evolve in the 1970s as a counterpart to Fatah. As a matter of fact his version of victory is supporting lunatics like Saddam Hussein to face Iran, and of course dismantling that regime and triggering a civil war. Every Iraqi citizen killed, it is the fault of the United States of America, and whoever voted for George Bush.

"We're in a different struggle today, but we're in an ideological struggle against violent extremism"

The same ones previous US administrations funded in general to face the Russians.

"In Afghanistan, you're helping a young democracy establish the rule of law and strengthen public education and build civil society. In Iraq, you're helping the nation overcome the legacy of decades of tyranny by strengthening government institutions and promoting peaceful engagement."

These two countries are the clear examples were US funding was at its peak in the 1980s whereby Bin Laden's Group was funded to face Russian soldiers, and Saddam was made too powerful to counter Iran. We still await Bush's Weapons of Mass Destructions.

"And although the struggle against violent extremism is in its early years, there's no doubt in my mind freedom will again prevail -- and your help is going to be important."

Freedoms where bloodbath takes place like Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan? Or Latin dictators such as those US satellites in Bolivia and Handuras? Or friendly dictators like Tudjman, Moubarak, al-Saud, and king Abdullah II, and of course most recently: al-Qazzafi. Of course, we cannot forget Musharref in Pakistan! The only freedom Bush is thinking about is how the US corporations can maximize profit at the expense of third world countries.

"Freedom is universal. We believe that freedom is the birthright of every man, woman and child. Free societies are peaceful societies."

Tell that to the arrested journalist of al-Jazeera in Guantanamo Bay, tell that to the Palestinian and Lebanese children who died at the hands of the Zionist Israelis. Tell that to every woman oppressed in Saudi Arabia and Qatar (well in the later case, the local Qataris). Tell that to the executed Nigerian activists in 1997 by Shell.

"Freedom helps supplant the conditions of hopelessness that extremists exploit to recruit terrorists and suicide bombers."

How can you have freedom if you have poverty and rob the 3rd world nations from their local wealth? How can you not investigate the psychology of those who bombed themselves (mind you, as Marxists we oppose such operations). People are not born as suicide bombers you know.

"Our most solemn obligation is to protect the American people. That is why we're pursuing and bringing to justice terrorists. We're fighting them overseas so we don't have to face them here in the United States of America."

Great! Bush is promising us with new imperial conquests in an indefinite framework for war. What we would call as "pre-emptive wars" in the name of protecting Americans from those they funded back in the 1970s – 1980s.

"We're helping nations across the world build these institutions, and we face three challenges as we do so. First of all, there are developing nations, many on the continent of Africa, that are facing extreme poverty and health epidemics and humanitarian catastrophes, and are therefore vulnerable to extremists who take advantage of chaos and instability. "

Previous European imperialists robbed these nations' history and lives without compensation, followed by the US corporations and sweatshops... spare me the drama Bush!

"Secondly, there are nations like Colombia and Lebanon and Pakistan that are facing transnational threats from drug cartels or terrorist networks that seek safe haven on their territory and threaten to overwhelm their institutions. "

Well, in our case, the United States did nothing. As a matter of fact, they aggravated things by contributing to divide Lebanon into two camps, and intervening in its domestic politics. Bush didn’t even trigger the 14th of March "Cedar Revolution". Sectarianism did, and normal people who had better hopes that their economic nightmares will end all economic dampening. Bush did nothing to Lebanon. He just watched and watched as Israel bombed Lebanon, while he tried to cover that up and say: "Israel is not harming the Lebanese, they are only bombing Hezbollah". Well tell that to two of my friends who died from Israeli bombing, with one of the two a Christian working in the Red Cross. Heck, even the Lebanese Forces complained that they had three martyrs at the hands of Israel.

"And thirdly, there are nations like Afghanistan and Iraq, where we removed dangerous regimes that threatened our people, and now have a special obligation to help them build free societies that become allies in the fight against these extremists."

Bush, your previous administrations placed these regimes.

"The whole idea is to work to train international peacekeeping forces so they can do the work necessary to provide stability and security, so institutions can advance. So far, we've trained more than 40,000 peacekeepers, and the plan is to train 75,000 additional."

They haven't done anything in Lebanon. As a matter of fact, UNIFIL has strong contacts with Hezbollah to coordinate certain security issues, and all the presidents of the dispatched UNIFIL soldiers threatened that the first war they detect, these soldiers are going home.

Btw, Bush didn’t mention anything about Hezbollah's offensive on Beirut, usually he promotes their evilness on day to day basis. This sheds light that Bush is partly involved or at least had knowledge of what was coming last month to hit Lebanon.

Finally, go rot in Hell Bush and along with your stupid supporters who are desperately waiting for emancipation!

MFL