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Preserve and Protect
Friday March 7, 2003
President George W. Bush, in his press conferences last night, said, "I swore to preserve and protect the Constitution; that's what I swore to do."
That is the center of everything the President is doing. It is at the center of his demand that Saddam disarm. It is at the center of the war on terrorism. It is at the center of his focus on Homeland Security.
The President did not present an image of someone who was in doubt about what needed to occur. He also did not present an image of someone who was eager to pursue a course of war. But he DID present the image of an American President who is absolutely committed to protecting the people of the United States.
The President has determined that Saddam Hussein represents a threat to the United States. He said, "There's a gathering threat. A true, real threat."
Neither Germany, nor France, nor Russia, nor China was attacked on September 11, 2001. The United States was. As the President of the United States, President Bush see that threat differently than the heads of state of those other nations.
Several times during the press conference the President said that the risk of doing nothing; the risk of hoping Saddam will "become a gentle soul" is a risk he was not willing to take on behalf of the American people.
Everyone - the French, the Germans, every single knowledgeable person on the planet - believes Saddam Hussein (a) has weapons of mass destruction and (b) has used them in the past.
President Bush is determined Saddam will not use those weapons against the United States - directly or indirectly.
The issue, as framed by the President is this: Has Saddam fully complied with the terms of Resolution 1441 or hasn't he? Is he in compliance or he is not?
The President put Germany, France, Russia and China on notice that they were going to have to stand up and be counted - one way or the other. He will make them "show their cards" by forcing a vote in the Security Council no matter what the "whip count" shows.
If, for their own political and economic reasons, they choose to vote against the United States and Great Britain in the United Nations, and if we have to go into Iraq, and if we succeed in freeing the Iraqi people, then history will show that the United States and its allies were correct. And history will also show that the French and the others were wrong.
Reporters had carefully prepared their questions which they asked respectfully and carefully. The President answered them in the same manner.
If Saddam Hussein was watching that press conference, then the seriousness, the calm, the tranquility with which the President responded to question after question for nearly 40 minutes had to fill his veins with ice.
In a region of the world which is so attuned to religion, it will not be lost on the people of that region that President Bush is a believer. AP's Ron Fournier reported, "Bush, growing teary-eyed, said it was a 'humbling experience' to know that people he's never met 'have lifted me and my family up in prayer. It's been a comforting feeling to know that.'"
I happened to have had lunch at the Pentagon yesterday. There were no bands playing; no displays of military hubris; no puffed up generals marching about. There was a palpable air of well-trained people preparing very hard for the serious work ahead in the occupation they have chosen.
The man who is their Commander-in-Chief spoke to them and to the world last night.
President Bush IS a leader. And he is leading the United States of America.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: The transcript of the press conference; a Mullfoto and a pretty good Catchy Caption.
--END --
Copyright © 2003 Richard A. Galen
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