I am simply amazed by this statment by President Bush given to Air Force cadets in Colorado a couple weeks ago: "Some who call themselves realists question whether the spread of democracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the realists in this case have lost contact with a fundamental reality: America has always been less secure when freedom is in retreat; America is always more secure when freedom is on the march."
I am usually not disposed toward commenting on statements made by Bush. My thoughts concerning him don't reeally matter. I voted for him in 2000 because frankly I hated the alternative. Now I'm ashamed and I won't make that mistake again. I think of Bush as curmudgeon. A hapless victim of his surroundings. I don't think of him as a real leader. But when he mouths words such as these, whether he wrote them or not, he becomes a demagogue of a larger ideological evil. And statements such as these really scare me. I mean we're talking the big "F" word here. . . as in Fascist. And I don't say that lightly.
A week ago Bush was being interviewed on TV, and I'm embarrassed because I can't remember by who, oh yeh Tom Brokaw, anyway, I really liked Bush's replies. They comforted me. Questions that made him seem like he wanted to go to war were quickly answered with "War is always a last resort. I hate war." And it all sounded so good, so nice. Asked if he could see how people could worry about the end result he answered that yes, if he didn't believe the end result would be a better world then he too would be despondent.

So yes, he's got such a hopeful agenda. It seems that finally we're going to undo all the wrong in the world. We're going after the evildoers and we're going to free the Middle East for democracy and if we just trust Bush and his team the world will be fine, and yes we can be assured that God is on his side. But no, this isn't a radical Theocratic agenda its very simple 'cuz they attacked us not we them and we're just gonna finish the job now.

Trouble is I pay attention to the news in the Middle East. And while Bush has his wonderful end in mind based on a strong Military and the good intentions of newly freed governments, the same Israeli government continues confiscating Palestinian land for the good of democracy. And the US keeps slapping hands and saying "Oh behave won't you?" Wink wink nudge nudge. "Let's see what those new Apaches can do." Israel has been for years our democratic model in the Middle East. What hope does that offer for our brave new democratic order in the middle east?