THAT WOULD BE THE LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC IRAQ, FOR YOU NATION READERS:

President Welcomes President Talabani of Iraq to the White House (George W. Bush, The East Room, 9/13/05)

President Talabani has dedicated his life to the cause of liberty in Iraq. As a lawyer, a journalist, and a political leader in Northern Iraq, he stood up to a brutal dictator, because he believes that every Iraqi deserves the be free. The dictator destroyed Kurdish villages, ordered poison gas attacks on a Kurdish city, and violently repressed other religious and ethnic groups. For President Talibani and his fellow citizens, the day Saddam was removed from power was a day of deliverance. And America will always be proud that we led the armies of liberation.

In the past two years, the Iraqi people have made their vision of their future clear. This past January, more than 8 million Iraqis defied the car bombers and the assassins and voted in free elections. It is an inspiring act of unity when 80 percent of the elected National Assembly chose the President, a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority, to lead the free nation.

In our meeting today, I congratulated the President on his election, and I thanked him for his leadership on Iraq's draft constitution. The draft constitution is an historic milestone. It protects fundamental freedoms, including religion, assembly, conscience and expression. It calls for a federal system of government, which is essential to preserving the unity of a diverse nation like Iraq. It declares that all Iraqis are equal before the law, without regard to gender, ethnicity, and religion.

The Iraqi people can be proud of the draft constitution, and when an election to ratify that constitution is held next month, they will have a chance to vote their conscience at the polls.

As the Iraqi people continue on the path to democracy, the enemies of freedom remain brutal and determined.

Which can't help but remind you of this essay.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 13, 2005 8:41 PM