National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice's note to President George W. Bush at the NATO Summit and his response.

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On Monday, June 28, the formerly oppressed people of Iraq became members of a sovereign nation in the eyes of the world, a full two days earlier than originally planned by the administration.  The success of this turnover should not be mistaken.  The fact is, it takes time to create and build from scratch a democratic government in a country that has never known such a concept, a simply truth that the media and liberals conveniently forget.

The handing over of control from a potentially governing, occupying nation to the people of the nation is something of a miracle in and of itself, but the media glosses over this by instead suggesting that the reason for the handover early dealt with the lack of security in the country and our troops’ incapacity to protect the ceremony.  They suggest that handing power over early was a means to avoid a potential terrorist attack even though, just a month ago, they were bemoaning how far away the June 30 handover date seemed.

The simply fact is, our soldiers and diplomats in Iraq, working with the Iraqi people, have accomplished something more quickly than any other country has ever accomplished in the entire long history of the world: we set up a democratic form of government.  Yes, there is still a long road to go, but we should not forget that our own government’s inception took far more time.  This weekend celebrates our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, yet it was still another five years, and in the midst of the eight-year-long Revolutionary War, before we ratified the Articles of Confederation.  It took another seven years before we ratified the Constitution itself and formally revealed our new form of government.  In Iraq, we deposed a tyrant who murdered his own people, another conveniently forgotten fact, and established a transitional form of representational government in less than eighteen months.

This weekend, our nation celebrates its independence, and our people revel in their governmentally protected rights to speak freely, to think what they’d like, and to be secure in their life, liberty, and property.  We should consider the power of our exporting freedom to the rest of the world.  Reagan exported freedom to the Soviet Union, and as a result of those freedoms it collapsed, allowing many of the former Soviet bloc countries, now filled with free people, to join the European Union, an idea that even a decade ago seemed an impossible accomplishment.  President Bush has exported freedom to Afghanistan and now to Iraq, where men and women now have equal rights and equal opportunities to get an education and jobs.  As a direct result of our country’s gift of freedom to these countries, many other countries’ people realize, for the first time, that there is another option in their government and are seeking to change it.

This is what the terrorists fear: change.  Ironically, their goal of preventing change by preventing the handover of power in Iraq is not all that different from the goals of the media and liberals in this country.  Both seek to overthrow the current government in an effort to install a government less adamant about freedoms for all people.  The terrorists, the media, and the liberals are so blinded by their hatred that they overlook the triumph of Iraq and the freedoms now available to her people.  To be sure, there is still a long road ahead, but that cannot and will not change the successes that have already occurred in Iraq.

Independence Day is an American holiday, but too many other countries in the world do not have their own day to celebrate their independence and their freedoms.  That is really is what this weekend is about: celebrating the freedoms of our country and our people, things too many others in this world do not have and do not appreciate.

This weekend, we should all pause for a moment and consider our soldiers in harm’s way overseas and we should consider the freedoms and liberties that the Iraqis now have thanks to these brave men and women who understand the higher purpose of their actions: that a free world is a peaceful one.

We should also all pause and give thanks for the freedoms and liberties that our society has enjoyed for more than two hundred years.  Freedoms and liberties that too many of us take for granted, but something that, thanks to our brave men and women overseas, no Iraqi will ever take for granted for the rest of their lives.

Let freedom reign, forever.

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