SO, NOW HE SUPPORTS THE WAR AGAIN?

Real Security in a Post-9/11 World [Prepared Remarks] (John F. Kerry, Remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations, 12/8/05)

And democratic values and openness should be championed not simply as western values but as the universal values that they are.

Democratization is not a crusade.

If it is seen as the result of an army marching through Muslim lands it will fail.

But more importantly, that's not the way democracy works.

Democracy spreads with patient but firm determination, led by individuals of courage who dream of a better day for their country.

Viktor Yushchenko had that dream in Ukraine.

Hamid Karzai had that dream in Afghanistan.

And Lech Walesa had that dream in Poland.

We need to create the conditions where this dream can become a reality in the Arab world.

Brothers Judd blog readers will recognize immediately that Senator Kerry is here endorsing the war but I'll give Lech Welesa the last word:

In Solidarity: The Polish people, hungry for justice, preferred "cowboys" over Communists (Lech Walesa, Opinionjournal.com, 7/11/04)

When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989.

Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe in the dark days of the Cold War meant a lot to us. We knew he believed in a few simple principles such as human rights, democracy and civil society. He was someone who was convinced that the citizen is not for the state, but vice-versa, and that freedom is an innate right.

I often wondered why Ronald Reagan did this, taking the risks he did, in supporting us at Solidarity, as well as dissident movements in other countries behind the Iron Curtain, while pushing a defense buildup that pushed the Soviet economy over the brink. Let's remember that it was a time of recession in the U.S. and a time when the American public was more interested in their own domestic affairs. It took a leader with a vision to convince them that there are greater things worth fighting for. Did he seek any profit in such a policy? Though our freedom movements were in line with the foreign policy of the United States, I doubt it.

Posted by David Cohen at December 9, 2005 6:18 PM