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Thank You, Mr. President.
George W. Bush understands the world in which we live. If ever we have been blessed with a leader, by the grace of God, it is now.
We live in the crossroads of world history. It is a moment that perhaps we do not fully understand. It is moment that George Bush does. Great leaders grasp their moment. They understand that which is bigger than themselves. They almost instinctively know that something larger than themselves is transpiring and that they have been cast on the stage of history by the Director of life to do His bidding. It is His call. George W. Bush gets it. Thank you, Mr. President for standing tall, picking up that mantle, and carrying us forward in the face of our enemies both here and abroad. Thank you for your faith and trust in the Author of Life, your dependence on the One who directs the affairs of men, and your unwavering commitment to the responsibility He has given you.
If you haven’t read the President’s speech at the U.S. Naval Academy please take the time to do so here.
Some excerpts…
These terrorists have nothing to offer the Iraqi people. All they have is the capacity and the willingness to kill the innocent and create chaos for the cameras. They are trying to shake our will to achieve their stated objectives. They will fail. America’s will is strong. And they will fail because the will to power is no match for the universal desire to live in liberty.
This is an enemy without conscience — and they cannot be appeased.
Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a message across the world that America is a weak and an unreliable ally. Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a signal to our enemies — that if they wait long enough, America will cut and run and abandon its friends. And setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would vindicate the terrorists’ tactics of beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder — and invite new attacks on America. To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your Commander-in-Chief.
Victory in Iraq will demand the continued determination and resolve of the American people. It will also demand the strength and personal courage of the men and women who wear our nation’s uniform. And as the future officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, you’re preparing to join this fight. You do so at a time when there is a vigorous debate about the war in Iraq. I know that for our men and women in uniform, this debate can be unsettling — when you’re risking your life to accomplish a mission, the last thing you want to hear is that mission being questioned in our nation’s capital. I want you to know that while there may be a lot of heated rhetoric in Washington, D.C., one thing is not in dispute: The American people stand behind you.
Today in the Middle East freedom is once again contending with an ideology that seeks to sow anger and hatred and despair. And like fascism and communism before, the hateful ideologies that use terror will be defeated by the unstoppable power of freedom, and as democracy spreads in the Middle East, these countries will become allies in the cause of peace.
In mourning the loss of our fallen soldiers, Mr. Bush cited the following…
One of those fallen heroes is a Marine Corporal named Jeff Starr, who was killed fighting the terrorists in Ramadi earlier this year. After he died, a letter was found on his laptop computer. Here’s what he wrote, he said, “[I]f you’re reading this, then I’ve died in Iraq. I don’t regret going. Everybody dies, but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it’s not to me. I’m here helping these people, so they can live the way we live. Not [to] have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators_. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.”
There is only one way to honor the sacrifice of Corporal Starr and his fallen comrades — and that is to take up their mantle, carry on their fight, and complete their mission.
Mr. President, thank you. May God continue to guide you in His path. Thank you for your willingness to assume this awesome and incomprehensible responsibility.
May God bless you.
You can read the President’s unclassified strategy for Iraq here.
http://myopiczeal.blogsome.com/2005/11/30/thank-you-mr-president/trackback/
Bush is an idiot.
Comment by noddy — December 2, 2005 @ 3:09 pm
Then what was Hitler? By what you’re saying, a person who takes a dare to leap forward is a great leader. That might be true, but Hitler did that. He took a daring step forward when he was on the brink of poverty, where he started from failing an art school entrance examination, sulking on the streets of Germany, to suddenly this leader of Germany. He attacked other countries to improve this country that he leapt into, a huge leap of faith. He pubically defaced a whole religion, a huge leap of faith. He started from even humbler origins then Bush and took a wilder leap forward to lead his country to ‘greatness.’ I bet ‘the Author of Life’ spoke to him.
Oh, was Hitler a great leader?
Sure Hitler’s actions were of totally horrible and malicious nature, but he was improving his country! And it somewhat worked for a little while.
Oh, and you know what? You know how Bush is saying that their opponents have no conscience? Oh ho ho ho, wait, Hitler said that about the Jews! *gasp*
Sure, you can argue that God struck him down by having him utterly lose in World War II, but you have to remember that Germany basically beat the crap out of the Allies till the USA intervened.
What makes a great leader is not his courage and faith alone. His wisdom and knowledge matters too. So why don’t you give a good argument saying why Bush is being wise in his decisions instead of turning this into philosophy?
Reply by TOL: I find your comments humorous. You start out by setting up your own theme as though I said it. Kind of a straw man approach. Just for the record I did not say that a person who takes a dare to leap forward is a great leader. Your next to last sentence summarizes well my point. Thanks for helping with that. ToL
Comment by 3Highmoons — December 2, 2005 @ 5:03 pm
Bush is no more a leader than my pet hamster. He is not a visionary, nor a wise man nor does he understand the world because he doesn’t see it. He is isolated from it now as, I get the impresssion he has been all his life. He was unable to function effectively in it during his youth and early adulthood. The alcoholism and repeated business failures ( three that have been publicized) are the purest testimony of this fact. Had it not been for his father’s connections who bailed him out repeatedly who knows wher he would be today.
Those who surround him and whose directions he follows ( Cheney and the neocons and Rove, his political handler) saw after 9/11 the perfect opportunity, for the first to fulfill a longtime misguided dream in invading Iraq and for the latter, Rove, to invest Bush with exactly the image which you so effusively praise.
Bush in reality is the “leader’ who upon being informed that the U.S. was being attacked and not having received any further instructions on how to proceed, did not have the common sense to get up from reading to scoolchildern and take charge. He also spent the first day hiding while the person really in charge ( Cheney, however misguided his vision ) took the reins.
A person who cannot express himself would never be considered a leader anywhere else even if he had true convictions and ideas. He simply by definition would not be able to lead in the way true democratic governments are supposed to be led.
If it’s not through press manipulation , meticulously staged photo ops
and what clearly is shaping up to be the most corrupt political machinery in ages none of his monumenrtally mistaken initiatives would have seen the light of day.
Reply by TOL: This liberal litany of talking points is getting boring. Its absurdity hardly contributes in any meaningful way to constructive political discourse. ToL
I have confidence in this great country and its people whose majority are not of either extremes. They will finally awake from the post 9/11 coma and realize in time what has ocurred in the wake of that tragic incident politically in this country. It’s already happening if you follow the news. Once again the U.S. will recuperate its international standing and continue being the champion of TRUE freedom and democracy ( not torture, political propaganda and unwarranted war). Take to task those who are truly our enemies without any hesitation without resorting to shamlessly
misrepresenting facts and lying to our people and the world about false threats.
Finally I see that reason, true intelligence ( not the phony DESIGN type) and science will once again reign, for it is these that have made this country great , rich and strong and not the backward, medieval, sect-like fanaticism that your faux-leader cultivates for political expediency.
Comment by George — December 3, 2005 @ 7:03 pm
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