The freedom fighters in Iran are an early dividend Bush’s politically costly strategy in Iraq.
While the American media dismissed Reagan as a simpleton and his strategy as dangerously provocative, he knew that the basic human desire for freedom could not be supressed. He was able to see beyond the prevailing wisdom of his time to perceive that the Soviet Empire was not a permanent reality. His support for the freedom fighters in Poland would be critical. Poland was the domino that toppled the Warsaw Pact and launched an era of freedom for the formerly captive nations.
After September 11, President Bush tried a similar approach. One free Arab democracy in the Middle East would be the domino that breaks the power of the mullahs and launches an era of freedom.
Unfortunately, the strategy depends upon steady American leadership. When Russia invaded Georgia in the summer of 2008, McCain stated that, “Our united purpose should be to persuade the Russian government to cease its attacks, withdraw its troops, and enter into negotiations with Georgia. We must remind Russia’s leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world.”
Obama said, “I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid escalation to a full scale war.” We should have realized then that Obama is a man who establishes a moral equivalency between right and wrong, good and evil.
In the meantime, there are freedom fighters throughout the Islamic world today that look to America for the same leadership Ronald Reagan provided throughout the eighties. Unfortunately for them, the man who presently occupies the White House is far more like Jimmy Cater than Ronald Reagan.
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