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Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 26, 2005 / 25 Kislev, 5766

Let's not forget what Bush has done

By Kathryn Lopez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Around this time every year, most of us give lip service to new year's resolutions, goals and personal benchmarks. Some will not happen, others will be successes and a few will be gambles. President Bush's freedom push is certainly in the "gamble" category. But despite what you hear from naysayers, he didn't do too badly. And that's a good thing for the world.


Freedom had an excellent year in 2005. And W. deserves some credit for that.


The watchdog group Freedom House reports that, "On the whole, the state of freedom showed substantial improvement worldwide with 27 countries and one territory registering gains, and only nine countries showing setbacks. The global picture thus suggests that the past year was one of the most successful for freedom since Freedom House began measuring world freedom in 1972." For the Middle East, especially, the performance was the best, again, since Freedom House started keeping track over three decades ago.


"What does this have to do with W.?" you may ask. Consider this. In his second inaugural address this past January George W. Bush said, "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."


To be honest, even some of the president's supporters, folks who probably lost sleep during the 2004 election season, were skeptical about the newly re-elected president's idealism. One of my favorite writers, who had actually taken time off as commentator to help get Bush elected, accused the president of "mission inebriation." She cautioned that he and his posse "ease up, calm down, breathe deep, get more securely grounded. The most moving speeches summon us to the cause of what is actually possible. Perfection in the life of man on earth is not."


And here we are. The world ain't perfect. We probably haven't seen the "greatest achievements in the history of freedom," one of the loose long-term goals President Bush had set in his second inaugural address. That would certainly be overkill and an overstatement. But we haven't done too bad, and the president's potential rhetorical overreach, policies and principles have lead the way — along with the bravery of Americans and Iraqis, among others.


Now, of course, the world has miles to go, mind you. Just in time for the Christmas season, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in-between his vehement Holocaust denials, reportedly declared "I will stop Christianity in this country." In a first-of-its kind report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released eyewitness testimony from North Korea "of gruesome public executions for those possessing or importing Bibles or for groups discovered worshipping clandestinely." According to Freedom House, 45 countries remain "Not Free," representing 2.3 billion people — 35 percent of the world's known population who "are widely and systematically denied basic civil liberties and basic political rights are absent."


At the end of the day (or year, as it is), the United States can't take all the credit or be responsible for the spread of freedom and democracy. However, we can play a role in promoting it. And we have. The way Bush put it in January was: "The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause."


As Freedom House reports, "Since the events of 9/11, the United States has made the promotion of democracy — in the Middle East primarily but in other regions as well — a greater priority among the broad mix of foreign policy goals ... the administration of George W. Bush, building on policies initiated by his predecessors, has pushed forward an agenda in which the advancement of freedom plays a tangible role ..." Freedom House also notes, "... But if the gains for freedom revealed in this survey tell us anything, it is that the policies of the United States, Europe, and other free societies are achieving some crucial goals. These efforts should be strengthened, not diminished" — a statement that rings true beyond the analysts.


The words of one Iraqi voter leaving her voting station were much quoted in certain segments of the media: "Anybody who doesn't appreciate what America has done, and President Bush, let them go to hell!" You have to have an appreciation for the hell she lived under in Saddam Hussein's tyranny to fully get the sincerity of her words.


We'll debate the hows and how longs, as we should, but in the heat of political debates and trying to keep us safe, let's not lose sight of these brave people the world over who, with just a little help and inspiration, will work for a new future of freedom.

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