From Obama’s UN speech a year ago on September 21, 2011.
Compare his words of triumph with what you know is happening at this
very moment:
One year ago, Egypt
had known one President for nearly 30 years. But for 18 days, the eyes of the
world were glued to Tahrir Square, where Egyptians from all walks of life --
men and women, young and old, Muslim and Christian -- demanded their universal rights.
We saw in those protesters the moral force of non-violence that has lit the
world from Delhi to Warsaw, from Selma to South Africa -- and we knew that
change had come to Egypt and to the Arab world.
One year ago, the people of Libya were ruled by the world’s
longest-serving dictator. But faced with bullets and bombs and a dictator who
threatened to hunt them down like rats, they showed relentless bravery. We will
never forget the words of the Libyan who stood up in those early days of the
revolution and said, “Our words are free now.” It’s a feeling you can’t
explain. Day after day, in the face of bullets and bombs, the Libyan people
refused to give back that freedom. And when they were threatened by the kind of
mass atrocity that often went unchallenged in the last century, the United
Nations lived up to its charter. The Security Council authorized all necessary
measures to prevent a massacre. The Arab League called for this effort; Arab
nations joined a NATO-led coalition that halted Qaddafi’s forces in their
tracks. . . . . . .
In the months that followed, the will of the coalition
proved unbreakable, and the will of the Libyan people could not be denied.
Forty-two years of tyranny was ended in six months. From Tripoli to Misurata to
Benghazi -- today, Libya is free. Yesterday, the leaders of a new Libya took
their rightful place beside us, and this week, the United States is reopening
our embassy in Tripoli.
This is how the international community is supposed to work
-- nations standing together for the sake of peace and security, and
individuals claiming their rights. Now, all of us have a responsibility to
support the new Libya -- the new Libyan government as they confront the
challenge of turning this moment of promise into a just and lasting peace for
all Libyans.
So this has been a remarkable year. The Qaddafi regime is over. Gbagbo, Ben Ali, Mubarak are no longer in power. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him. Something is happening in our world. The way things have been is not the way that they will be. The humiliating grip of corruption and tyranny is being pried open. Dictators are on notice. Technology is putting power into the hands of the people. The youth are delivering a powerful rebuke to dictatorship, and rejecting the lie that some races, some peoples, some religions, some ethnicities do not desire democracy. The promise written down on paper -- “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” -- is closer at hand. (you can find this speech at the White House blog)
So this has been a remarkable year. The Qaddafi regime is over. Gbagbo, Ben Ali, Mubarak are no longer in power. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him. Something is happening in our world. The way things have been is not the way that they will be. The humiliating grip of corruption and tyranny is being pried open. Dictators are on notice. Technology is putting power into the hands of the people. The youth are delivering a powerful rebuke to dictatorship, and rejecting the lie that some races, some peoples, some religions, some ethnicities do not desire democracy. The promise written down on paper -- “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” -- is closer at hand. (you can find this speech at the White House blog)
Editor's notes: no comment on my part is needed. Just know that "hope" is the only operative in this nonsensical speech, and "hope," in this case, is opposite to reality.
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