Condi on Bush's "outreach to the Muslim world built on democratic values"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Condi's looking mighty happy these days, isn't she? Andy did most of the talking this morning (three sentences in a row in which he called Bush "bold")...but Condi did take a moment to teach us a valuable lesson about freedom, liberty, democratic values, opportunity, education, women's programs...all of the FINE work being done by the Bush administration.

:grouphug:



http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040802-6.html

Q The administration is saying -- this is possibly directed to Dr. Rice. The administration is saying that it's already acted on many of the recommendations in the report. Can you talk about, specifically, some of the recommendations about reaching out to the Muslim world and how the President has acted on those specific recommendations?

DR. RICE: Yes, of course, because there are a number of foreign policy recommendations in the commission report, as well. And on outreach to the Muslim world, the President actually has an outreach initiative to the Muslim world, but it is probably best known to you as part of what is called the Broader Middle East Initiative, which is clearly aimed at changing the circumstances that have produced the people who flew the airplanes into those buildings on September 11th. That includes, of course, outreach on matters of economic development, outreach on matters of trade, outreach on matters of educational development, women's programs, programs with civil society. And I should mention that this is a place where it's not just the United States, but at the G8, then at the EU summit, and then at NATO, the President asked for and received the very strong support of those organizations for outreach initiatives to the Muslim world.

The G8, for instance, adopted a kind of charter and action plan for outreach to the Muslim world that includes very strong work with civil society, very strong work with women's groups, very strong work to try to improve the economic opportunities for young people in the Middle East. And this is a project that will only grow over time. And so it's one thing to talk about the public diplomacy part of this. And I think the President wants to look harder at what might be done on the public diplomacy side to strengthen our efforts to get the message out to the Muslim world. But there is no greater outreach to the Muslim world than to say that the future is in greater freedom and liberty for peoples of the Muslim world, that there is no conflict between Islam and democratic values.

The President went to Turkey and talked about the importance of bridging to the Muslim world. And so I think you would see that the entire Broader Middle East Initiative, the entire strategy for the President is to have an outreach to the Muslim world built on democratic values, built on opportunity for people in the Muslim world. And he has an action plan to achieve it, including one that has the G8, the EU and NATO signed on to it.

[goclark]

1. The eyes are empty

Her eyes are a thousand miles away! I can't belive it.
Something terrible must have happened today in the WH.

His eyes are not happy either.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. He was dancin' on hot coals this morning...

...here's the "bold" exchange:

Q One follow-up from the other perspective, which is, why is it wise to take all of this on in the heat of an election campaign?

SECRETARY CARD: Well, this has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with better protecting the homeland and making sure that the resources of our intelligence community are well-coordinated, so that the President can have the best information available to defeat terrorism. And the President took bold action when he created the Homeland Security Advisor and the Homeland Security Council. He took bold action when he created the Department of Homeland Security. He took bold action when he created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, and he called for the passage of the Patriot Act, and this builds on that success. And that's why the President is putting forward now. We think that it's the right thing to do and it's the better to move quickly, rather than move too slowly.

[jean]

4. I detest the use of the word ' homeland '

[Kool Kitty]

2. Look at how well it's working in Iraq!

(Not to mention Afghanistan...)