imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Friday, February 04, 2005
A LEADER IS A DEALER IN HOPE
I chose this picture because I love it. I call it “LUCKY LADY!!!”
DUBYA'S FORWARD MARCH
By Ralph Peters
THE quality I most admire about President Bush is that he isn't afraid to lead. Buoyed by election triumphs — first at home, then in Iraq — he made his State of the Union Address a trumpet call for freedom and democracy. Above all, our president did one thing that I've longed for him to do: He called on the Saudi royal family to give their country's citizens a voice in their own future.
It was an enormous step, discarding decades of diplomatic practice. Our government long ignored Saudi complicity in turning Islam into a creed of irresponsibility and venom. The Saudis spread money on both sides of the aisle in Washington, buying silence. The Bush family itself has long and friendly ties to the House of Saud.
But Wednesday night our president put the Saudis on notice: Freedom's not for sale. Not even for oil.
His words were carefully chosen. But the Saudis must have been stunned.
President Bush proved to the Iraqis that he would stand firm and he did. As a result, they had the courage to vote. From that courage sprang the courage for one village to fight back. What Bush has done is to set in motion a ripple effect of courage, and it’s just the beginning.
Iraqi insurgents resume deadly attacks
The Iraqi police have investigated a case in the village of al-Mudhariya, which is just south of Baghdad. The villagers there say that before the election insurgents came and warned them that if they voted in last weekend's election, they would pay.
Now the people of this mixed village of Sunni and Shia Muslims, they ignored the threat and they did turn out to vote.
We understand that last night the insurgents came back to punish the people of al-Mudhariya, but instead of metering out that punishment the villagers fought back and they killed five of the insurgents and wounded eight. They then burnt the insurgents' car. So the people of that village have certainly had enough of the insurgents.