Crusaders
US SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL before the 911 Commission on Tuesday March 23, 2004:
“Early on, we realized that a serious effort to remove Al Qaida’s safe haven in Afghanistan might well require introducing military force, especially ground forces. This, without the cooperation of Pakistan, would be out of the question….
“I just might point out that, with respect to Pakistan, consistent with the decisions that we had made in early September, after 9/11, within two days, Mr. Armitage had contacted the Pakistani intelligence chiefs who happened to be in the United States and laid out what we now needed from Pakistan. The time for diplomacy and discussions were over; we needed immediate action.
“And Mr. Armitage laid out seven specific steps for Pakistan to take to join us in this effort.
We gave them 24, 48 hours to consider it and then I called President Musharraf and said, ‘We need your answer now. We need you as part of this campaign, this crusade‘”.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH in primetime press conference on Tuesday April 13, 2004, included the following as part of a lengthy answer to a question about his leadership on intelligence reform:
“One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we’re asking questions, is, can you ever win the war on terror? Of course, you can. That’s why it’s important for us to spread freedom throughout the Middle East….That’s why I’m pressing the Greater Middle East Reform Initiative, to work to spread freedom. And we will continue on that. So long as I’m the President, I will press for freedom. I believe so strongly in the power of freedom.
“You know why I do? Because I’ve seen freedom work right here in our own country. I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom is not this country’s gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom”.
Dieu li volt!