Bush targets tyranny

Bush targets tyranny
By Andrew Miga

WASHINGTON – President Bush will take new aim at tyranny across the globe in next week’s State of the Union Address – bolstering his inaugural pitch that America must expand freedom and democracy abroad to stay safe at home. 

 “It will be a speech that continues to talk about freedom,” Bush said in a wide-ranging 45-minute Oval Office interview with Herald editors yesterday, one of his first such sessions since being sworn in to a second term last week. “In order to lead, you gotta know where you are going. These two speeches will make it very clear I know where I’m going – and I think the people will come.”

    Appearing relaxed in a beige-and-blue striped cloth armchair before a crackling fire in a stately white marble fireplace, a reflective Bush also spoke expansively about his presidential legacy.

   Appearing relaxed in a beige-and-blue striped cloth armchair before a crackling fire in a stately white marble fireplace, a reflective Bush also spoke expansively about his presidential legacy.

            “I would hope people would say the world is more peaceful,” said Bush, flanked by sculpted busts of Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln. “I truly believe the world is going to become more free and more democratic – and therefore more peaceful.”




     The former Texas governor steadfastly took the long view as he brushed off his Iraq war critics, saying history and not the headlines of the day would be the final judge of his presidency.




     With a wry smile, Bush said he found it “ironic” that one of his best friends among world leaders is Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.




     “Yet, it was, what, 60 years ago that my dad was a young fighter bomber at war with this enemy,” said Bush. “And because we believed in democracy and freedom, the Japanese have now become free. It is one of the great lessons of history about the effect of freedom on societies.”




     If then-President Harry Truman had tried to tell reporters during World War II that Japan would later become one of America’s great allies, Bush opined: “Everybody would look at the guy and say, `Forget it.’ But that’s in fact what happened.”




     The president predicted history could repeat itself in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere where the seeds of democracy are nurtured and protected by free nations.




     “That hopefully will be one of the legacies,” he mused. “Somebody will be sitting around saying, `Ole George W stood the line. He truly believed that a free society would grow up in a peaceful world.’ ”




     Bush also offered a correction for those who saw his inaugural address last week as a dramatic shift to a more aggressive and militaristic U.S. foreign policy.




     “The speech laid out a strategy as to how the United States will work with others to end tyranny in the world,” the president said. “The speech wasn’t, `Anybody who’s not free, here we come.’ ” Military might is only part of the equation, he added.




     “The military is always the last resort for the commander in chief,” said Bush.




     In a wide-ranging discussion with Herald publisher and president Patrick J. Purcell and the newspaper’s editorial board, Bush also:




     

Praised former Democratic presidential rival Sen. John F. Kerry, whom he hasn’t spoken to since Kerry conceded Nov. 3: “He waged a tough campaign. I was hoping coming down the stretch he would tire, lose his composure, but he didn’t. He was a very strong candidate.”




     

Said he worries some Americans might become too complacent about terrorism as 9/11 memories fade: “I knew there would be a natural tendency for people to kind of settle in and forget the moment. And that’s natural. No one wants to relive that kind of horrific day on a regular basis. I know that would be my duty to remind people of the nature of this war we’re in.”




     

Stressed that free elections in Afghanistan were the first in 5,000 years there: “That’s an extraordinary achievement for the Afghan people. And that matters.”