NPR: FactWatch: Freedom Agenda

FactWatch: Freedom Agenda

From the speech:
"Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace. In the last seven years, we have witnessed stirring moments in the history of liberty. We have seen citizens in Georgia and Ukraine stand up for their right to free and fair elections. We have seen people in Lebanon take to the streets to demand their independence. We have seen Afghans emerge from the tyranny of the Taliban to choose a new president and a new parliament. We have seen jubilant Iraqis holding up ink-stained fingers and celebrating their freedom. And these images of liberty have inspired us."

Analysis:
President Bush often talks about what he calls his "freedom agenda" in the Middle East, arguing the U.S. relied on a false stability in the region in the past. But the democracy agenda took a hit when Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, won elections in the Palestinian territories two years ago and when the Muslim Brotherhood made gains in elections in Egypt before that. The president never mentions those elections, though the U.S. had been encouraging both votes to take place. The president has also toned down his criticism of key Arab allies. When he met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and other leaders during a recent swing through the Middle East, Bush did not openly criticize anyone's rule, but rather gently nudged for reforms and talked about the long term rather than the near term.

- Michele Kelemen

9:35 PM ET | 01-28-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Incredible insipidness. It takes a certain quality of leadership to make the achievements of democracy sound quotidian. It is difficult to even begin to attempt poking out subtleties, references, or even vague warnings from these platitudes because the contexts of how these democracies began are each so different!

Sent by rabow | 11:42 PM ET | 01-28-2008

When I was in high school my biology teacher told me a frog would calmly boil to death if we placed it in a pot of cool water and we slowly raised the temperature so that the frog passed easily from comfortable-to-uncomfortable-to-dead. I feel like the media have helped us through this progression during the Bush administration. I know, I know, the media's first job is to report "the News," even if it's some staged statement by the vice president on Fox "News." But certainly Daniel Shore is not the only news analyst on staff who can point out the obvious. In fairness to "The News," there were, as reported, no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the president essentially "lied" when he told us Iraq was seeking nuclear fuel from Africa, Al-Qaeda had no pre-US-invasion influences in Iraq, and there is an unresolved paradox between promoting democracy in the Middle East and the Bush administration's unwillingness to accept the democratically elected Hammas in Palestine. But what about all the claims, postulated as fact, leading up to the Iraq war. If I recall correctly, we were told, more than once, that this war would not cost the American Tax payer much because Iraq was a rich country and that we had no intention of a prolonged presence in Iraq. We seem to have accepted these untruths as facts-of-life, slowly, without question, like a frog accepting gradually increasing water temperatures. When "president" Bush says "We do not torture" and there are clear videos to the contrary, who will stand up with credibility and say "liar!" I had come to believe it was NPR. Now I don't know. Will NPR in 30 years be interviewing the next Woodward or will it BE the next WOODWARD.

Sent by Todd Walter | 12:06 AM ET | 01-29-2008

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