Mr.Rumsfeld träumt - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Joerver]

Es ist schon erstaunlich wie weit sich dieser Kommentar von der Realität entfernt.
Dies und die meisten Fernsehstationen mit ihren "news" sind die Quellen, aus denen sich viele Amerikaner speisen.
"New York Post" nicht zu verwechseln mit der "New York Times".(Aber dran denken "Bild" ist die größte deutsche Tageszeitung)



BUILDING LIBERTY

By DONALD RUMSFELD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



February 15, 2003 -- Adapted from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld`s remarks yesterday aboard the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum for its 11th annual Salute to Freedom.

THE Intrepid and I have a lot in common:

She was commissioned into Naval service in the middle of the 20th century - and so was I. She went on to serve the Navy in various capacities for more than three decades - and so have I. She retired from government service in the late 1970s, but then was brought back from the scrap yard - and so was I.

One other thing we have in common: We are both living proof that a couple of broken down old Navy vessels can still strive to serve this great country.

Today, the USS Intrepid has a new mission - helping to educate the next generation of Americans about the sacrifices of so many who made it possible for them to live in freedom.

After our country was attacked at Pearl Harbor, the Intrepid came to her rescue. She played a critical role in the Pacific war, and then went on to complete three tours of duty in Vietnam. In her years of service, she witnessed both the heroism and the carnage of war.

From her deck half-a-century ago, American sailors watched in horror as, on five separate occasions, suicide bombers crashed their planes into this ship. Each time, amid the mayhem, heroes sprang into action - dousing the flames, steadying the ship and risking their lives to pull the wounded from the wreckage.

More than half a century later, this retired ship once again witnessed heroism and carnage. From her deck, on a clear September morning, Americans watched in horror as suicide bombers struck again - this time crashing planes into the World Trade Center. From her deck, you could see the Twin Towers collapse, disappearing one after the other from the New York skyline.

But just as the Intrepid rose from the devastation of those attacks half a century ago, so too has our nation risen from the devastation of 9/11 - and let there be no doubt, we will achieve victory once again.

Our experiences then, and now, are similar in another sense. After Pearl Harbor, our country fought back and defeated those who attacked us. But we also made clear that America was not interested in conquest or colonization. When hostilities ended, we helped the Japanese people rebuild from the rubble of war, and establish the institutions of democracy. And today, Japan is a staunch friend and steadfast U.S. ally.

Similarly, after our nation was attacked on 9/11, we fought back in Afghanistan. But we also made clear that America was not interested in conquest or colonization. And today, we are helping the Afghan people rebuild from the rubble of war, and establish institutions of democracy. That is the American way.

In a way, it`s ironic: Terrorists attacked us because of who we are - a free people. Yet the result of their attacks was the liberation of a people - the Afghan people - those the terrorists had so mercilessly oppressed.

Before 9/11, Afghans lived lives of fear. The freedoms we enjoy were for them a distant dream. Today the Afghan people are free, Afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for terrorists, it has a transitional government with a popular mandate, girls and boys are back in school, and well over a million refugees have returned to their homes.

This is a remarkable transformation. And tonight, as we gather on this famous ship to celebrate the progress of human freedom, let me speak about how that transformation came about - the philosophy that made our success possible, and why it is so important not just for the future of warfare, but for future international efforts to help struggling nations recover from war and regain self-reliance.

From the outset of the war, our guiding principle has been that Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans. The United States does not aspire to own it, or run it. This shaped how we approached the military campaign. We did not send a massive invasion and occupation force. Instead, we kept the coalition footprint modest, and adopted a strategy of teaming with local Afghan forces that opposed the Taliban.

The careful use of precision-guided weapons helped ensure that there were fewer civilian casualties in this war than perhaps any war in modern history. As a result, we did not alienate the Afghan people.

Not only did we make every effort to avoid civilian deaths, we worked hard to save civilian lives. Coalition air crews dropped more than 2.4 million humanitarian daily rations to Afghan villages - reinforcing the message that we were coming not as a force of occupation, but as a force of liberation.

These principles, which brought success in war, are now guiding our efforts to shape the peace: Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans.

That is why we have been training an Afghan National Army - so that Afghans can, over time, take responsibility for their own security and stability, rather than depending on foreign forces.

This year, we will embark on a major international effort to bolster the new Afghan government. Our goal is to begin moving toward an end state, in which the Afghan government is sufficiently established that it can provide for security and stability across the country.

What lessons might our experiences in Afghanistan offer for a post-Saddam Iraq? The president has not made a decision to use force in Iraq. But if he were to do so, that principle would hold true: Iraq belongs to the Iraqis - we do not aspire to own it or run it. We hope to eliminate Iraq`s weapons of mass destruction, and to help liberate the Iraqi people from oppression and terror.

If the United States were to lead an international coalition in Iraq, we would be guided by two commitments: to stay as long as necessary; and to leave as soon as possible. We would work with our partners, as we did in Afghanistan, to help the Iraqi people establish a new government that would govern a single country; free of weapons of mass destruction; and which respects the right of its diverse population and the aspirations of all the Iraqi people to live in freedom and have a voice in their government.

Whatever happens elsewhere in the world, we will not abandon Afghanistan. Afghanistan remains an important ally, not just in the war against terrorism, but in the larger struggle for freedom and moderation in the Muslim world.

If we succeed, Afghans will take hold of their country, develop the institutions of self-government and reclaim their place as responsible members of the international community. And the world will have a model for a successful transition from devastation to self-reliance.

[GoldmanSex]

Man sollte diesen Hohlkopf Rumsfeld als Minentreter einsetzen,dann würde er etwas nützliches tun.er würde von der Bildfläche verschwinden.Und Motherfucker Bush gleich hinterher.

[DT000]

@#2

Du bist mit deinen schmiergigen, kleinbürgerlichen Kommentaren nicht besser, als diejenigen, die einen Militärschlag gegen den Irak unterstützen.

DT

[GoldmanSex]

#3
Ich habe dich nicht um deine Meinung über mich gebeten.Lern erst mal richtig zu schreiben bevor du etwas von dir gibst.