Bush to extend call for global democracy

[ProSense]

Demonstrators try to remove a police barricade during an anti-U.S. protest in Prague, Monday. Hundreds of Czechs protested peacefully on Monday against U.S. plans for a missile defence shield, rallying near Prague's historic castle hours before President Bush was due to arrive in the capital.

By Karoly Arvai, Reuters

Bush to extend call for global democracy

By David Jackson, USA TODAY
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — President Bush's hopes for Iraq's future can be seen in the group he'll meet with here today: human rights and pro-democracy activists from Iran, North Korea and about a dozen other authoritarian regimes.

"I feel very strongly that the United States must take the lead in promoting democracy around the world," Bush told a group of European journalists last week.

Bush arrived here late Monday for an eight-day European trip that will take him to seven nations. He meets with Czech President Vaclav Klaus before delivering an address in Prague on democracy and its importance to global security.

Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, a sponsor of today's Conference on Democracy & Security, has been an inspiration for Bush. The president often cites the influence of Sharansky's book, The Case For Democracy: The Power Of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny & Terror.

SHARANSKY ON IRAQ: Democracy more than elections

Yet the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq has placed Bush's democracy initiative in "disarray," said Grant Aldonas, a former undersecretary of international trade in the Bush administration.

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Sharansky said in an interview that the Bush administration erred by placing so much emphasis on elections in Iraq. True freedom, he said, also requires fundamental change, such as development of a stable judicial system.

"Without serious reform and building civil society, elections have no meaning," Sharansky said.

A Soviet prisoner for nine years, Sharansky praised Bush for his efforts at promoting democracy, saying "he brought this issue back on the international agenda."

He said every tyrannical regime wants Bush to fail in Iraq, because success in the heart of the Middle East would threaten their hold on power.

Bush awarded Sharansky, a former deputy prime minister of Israel, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006.

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Hail Bush! Self-proclaimed leader of the forced-at-gun-point free world!

Afghanistan:



Iraq:











Democracy should begin at home!

[marmar]

1. In other news, Bush's glass house was destroyed by flying stones....

:argh:

[bullimiami]

3. he knows exactly what lies he is spewing.

peace = war
democracy = oligarchy
love = hate

he is truly one of the most evil men this country has seen.

[Benhurst]

2. Does the corrupt assclown who stole his way into the White House

actually think there is anybody who takes him seriously when he makes such statements?

[goforit]

6. And do they know they are laughing at him and not with him?

[ixion]

4. yep, exactly: democracy begins at home, and that's home, NOT "Homeland"

which really creeps me out.

[babylonsister]

5. And the world laughs - AT him. nt

[ProSense]

7. Kick! n/t

[Island Blue]

8. K & R. n/t

[roamer65]

9. Looks like the world wants no part of *'s demockracy.

[WinkyDink]

10. His megalomania is a danger to the entire world. Bush somehow sees himself as

CONQUEROR EXTRAORDINAIRE.