Where was this speech 4 years ago?!?

I must say, I found Bush’s speech today to be a welcome change from the normal drivel that is commonly put in his partisan speeches. According to Bush, the goals of Islamic extremists are threefold:

1. “First, these extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace, and stand in the way of their ambitions.”
   
2. “Second, the militant network wants to use the vacuum created by an American retreat to gain control of a country, a base from which to launch attacks and conduct their war against non-radical Muslim governments.”
   
3. “Third, the militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region, and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia.”
   

He went on to speak openly about how these organizations rely on “the suffering and frustration of others. The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization, in which someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution.”

For the most part, the speech was really the first one in which the president actually offered an honest, even if simplistic, justification for the war on terror, and identification of the enemies in that war. By identifying their objectives rather than simply lamenting their evil-ness and leaving it at that, Bush has belatedly set up a framework for understanding the conflict that we are currently in.

Of course, the only falter in this otherwise competent address regarded Iraq:

• “Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq… I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001 -- and al Qaeda attacked us anyway.”
  

This is a straw-man argument since no one claims that the Iraq war created Islamic fundamentalism. The contention that many (including myself) HAVE made is that the conflict has strengthened terrorist groups by distracting our military from virtually every other area of the world, hindering our ability to respond to other threats adequately, and perhaps most directly, by creating an environment of heightened hatred and suspicion of the US which only fuels recruitment for terrorist organizations. Even our own CIA has acknowledged how the conflict in Iraq currently supports terrorist operations by providing “terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills.”

• “We didn't ask for this global struggle, but we're answering history's call with confidence, and a comprehensive strategy. Defeating a broad and adaptive network requires patience, constant pressure, and strong partners in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and beyond. Working with these partners, we're disrupting militant conspiracies, destroying their ability to make war, and working to give millions in a troubled region of the world a hopeful alternative to resentment and violence.”

It is almost too obvious to point out, but where was this cooperative spirit in the lead-up to the Iraq war? Conservatives and Republicans did not just disagree with our allies, we openly mocked and insulted them, dismissing international opposition as being the result of selfish or naive intentions.

However, to give credit where credit is due, the following statement by Bush is really the first time that I have heard him defend his opposition to withdrawing the troops coherently rather than with simple platitudes about freedom and letting the terrorists win:

“Some observers also claim that America would be better off by cutting our losses and leaving Iraq now. This is a dangerous illusion, refuted with a simple question: Would the United States and other free nations be more safe, or less safe, with Zarqawi and bin Laden in control of Iraq, its people, and its resources? Having removed a dictator who hated free peoples, we will not stand by as a new set of killers, dedicated to the destruction of our own country, seizes control of Iraq by violence.”

All in all, an excellent speech! I applaud its intelligence, and its frankness. The only problem, of course, is that it is too late, and does not seem to conform to the policies we are seeing out of this White House. Nevertheless, judged by itself, I only wish it was not delivered sooner.

(You can read a transcript of the entire speech here).