FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH

Flanked by Iraqi citizens who voted in the recent election, President Bush discussed freedom and democracy in Iraq in the White House Rose Garden today.

After offering condolences, prayers, and assistance to the victims of the Indonesian earthquake, Bush introduced a group of people dedicated to building a new Iraq--citizens who voted.

His remarks countered the dismal view we see played out in the mainstream media outlets.

(Excerpts)
I commend the more than 8 million Iraqis who defied the car bombers and assassins to vote that day. I appreciate the determination of the Iraqi electoral workers who withstood threats and intimidation to make a transparent election possible. I salute the courageous Iraqi security forces who risked their lives to protect voters.

By electing 275 men and women to the transitional national assembly, the Iraqi people took another bold step toward self-government. Today, Iraqis took another step on the road to a free society when the assembly held its second meeting. We expect a new government will be chosen soon and that the assembly will vote to confirm it. We look forward to working with the government that emerges from this process. We're confident that this new government will be inclusive, will respect human rights, and will uphold fundamental freedoms for all Iraqis.

We have seen many encouraging signs in Iraq. The world has watched Iraqi women vote in enormous numbers. The world has seen more than 80 women take their seats as elected representatives in the new assembly. We've also seen the beginnings of a new national dialogue, as leaders who did well in the last election have reached out to Sunnis who did not participate....

Iraqis are taking big steps on a long journey of freedom. A free society requires more than free elections; it also requires free institutions, a vibrant civil society, rule of law, anti-corruption, and the habits of liberty built over generations. By claiming their own freedom, the Iraqis are transforming the region, and they're doing it by example and inspiration, rather than by conquest and domination. The free people of Iraq are now doing what Saddam Hussein never could -- making Iraq a positive example for the entire Middle East.
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Using Ted Kennedy's phrase, this "fraud made up in Texas" has brought liberty to millions of Iraqis and hope for freedom and democracy to millions more in the Middle East.

You'd think advocates for women's rights would be praising the Bush administration, for liberating Iraqi women and helping to carry out elections that placed more than eighty women in office. Their silence only serves to prove that they hate Bush more than they care about women being freed from oppression.

Iraqi women engaging in the self-determination that freedom allows should be acknowledged as a tremendous achievement rather than dismissed.

I think what the liberals are having such a difficult time with is not so much the fact that the Bush administration was right, but the hard truth that they were SO wrong.