Bush Wows British Hosts in Whitehall Speech
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
November 25, 2003

Last week President Bush spoke in the Royal Banqueting House's Whitehall Palace during his state visit to Great Britain. The speech, now known as "The Three Pillars" received praise for substance as well as style in laying out a broad foreign policy vision.

He began with an observation that the "last noted American to visit London stayed in a glass box dangling over the Thames."

Bush also mentioned the anti-war protesters that followed him during his visit.

"I've been here only a short time, but I've noticed that the tradition of free speech -- exercised with enthusiasm is alive and well here in London," Bush said.

He added, "We have that at home, too. They now have that right in Baghdad, as well."

Bush pointed out the similar traits of Americans and Britons in sharing a "faith that liberty can change the world" and morality spoken in terms of right and wrong.

The president recounted those common beliefs when he said, "We believe in open societies ordered by moral conviction. We believe in private markets, humanized by compassionate government. We believe in economies that reward effort, communities that protect the weak, and the duty of nations to respect the dignity and the rights of all."

Making reference to the battles of Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush said, "We value our own civil rights, so we stand for the human rights of others... We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings."

Bush pointed out that the last American president to stay at Buckingham Palace was Woodrow Wilson, who came to Europe to promote his 14 Points for Peace. He observed that the League of Nations that grew out of Wilson's vision, "collapsed at the first challenge of the dictators."

"Free nations failed to recognize, much less confront, the aggressive evil in plain sight. And so dictators went about their business, feeding resentments and anti-Semitism, bringing death to innocent people in this city and across the world, and filling the last century with violence and genocide," Bush said.

The president said that although there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil since September 11, 2001, "The hope that danger has passed is comforting ... and it is false."

He recounted the attacks on Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Bombay, Mombassa, Najaf, Jerusalem, Riyadh, Baghdad, and Istanbul and said they were part of "the global campaign by terrorist networks to intimidate and demoralize all who oppose them."

Bush declared what has become his foreign policy imperative: "The evil is in plain sight. The danger only increases with denial. Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. We will face these threats with open eyes, and we will defeat them."

The president began to outline his world view when he said, "The peace and security of free nations now rests on three pillars: First, international organizations must be equal to the challenges facing our world, from lifting up failing states to opposing proliferation."

He said, "The credibility of the U.N. depends on a willingness to keep its word and to act when action is required."

Bush also challenged the European Union to work in common purpose for the advance of security and justice.

Bush identified the second pillar of peace and security to be in "the willingness of free nations, when the last resort arrives, to restrain aggression and evil by force."

To the anti-war critics he asked, "And who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing, or that the world was safer when he held power? Who doubts that Afghanistan is a more just society and less dangerous without Mullah Omar playing host to terrorists from around the world? And Europe, too, is plainly better off with Milosevic answering for his crimes, instead of committing more."

The president articulated that the third pillar of security is "our commitment to the global expansion of democracy, and the hope and progress it brings, as the alternative to instability and to hatred and terror."

He added, "Lasting peace is gained as justice and democracy advance."

Bush pointedly said, "The stakes in that region could not be higher. If the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation and anger and violence for export."

"If the greater Middle East joins the democratic revolution that has reached much of the world, the lives of millions in that region will be bettered, and a trend of conflict and fear will be ended at its source," Bush added.

The president broke with decades of American foreign policy in declaring, "As recent history has shown, we cannot turn a blind eye to oppression just because the oppression is not in our own backyard. No longer should we think tyranny is benign because it is temporarily convenient. Tyranny is never benign to its victims, and our great democracies should oppose tyranny wherever it is found."