They just got a different tool to use than we do: They kill innocent lives to achieve objectives. That's what they do. And they're good. They get on the TV screens and they get people to ask questions about, well, you know, this, that or the other. I mean, they're able to kind of say to people: Don't come and bother us, because we will kill you. Bush - Joint News Conference with Blair - 28 July '06

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Bush: democracy in Iraq will serve as powerful example

Washington Post: President Bush, attending a ceremonial swearing-in of Condoleezza Rice as his new secretary of state, said today that elections in Iraq on Sunday will help change the world, advancing his goal of ending "widespread hatred and radicalism" and thus making the United States more secure. Link

Bush's stated aim of 'ending hatred and radicalism' here is interesting. He may be familiar with some of the sermons of FW Robertson - an evangelistic minister ordained by the Bishop of Westminster in 1840 who had committed the bible to memory. To Robertson's mind, radicalism was a fundamental part of his Christian belief, indeed, the Robertson definition of radicalism can be found in Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) and goes like this:

"Radicalism means root work; the uprooting of all falsehoods and abuses."