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Democracy On The March? Nah
The Skinny: Even Republicans Retreat From President Bush's Vision Of "Ending Tyranny"
(CBS) The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.
Remember President Bush's sweeping goal of "ending tyranny around the world," laid out during his 2004 inaugural address?
The Washington Post serves up some recent examples and hard analysis of just how dead in the water that idea now is.
During a democracy conference in Prague in June, Mr. Bush sat down with opposition leaders from authoritarian societies, pledged to order U.S. ambassadors to meet with dissidents, and boasted he had created a fund to help embattled human-rights defenders.
But the State Department didn't send out the cable directing ambassadors to sit down with dissidents until two months later, the Post reports. "And, to this day, not a nickel has been transferred to the fund he touted."
That sort of inability to put his money where his mouth is has become the rule rather than the exception when it comes to advancing his democracy agenda, the Post reports. Of course, it's not all Mr. Bush's fault. Many in his administration never bought into the idea, and some even undermined it, "including his own vice president."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/20/the_skinny/main3183978.shtml
The Skinny: Even Republicans Retreat From President Bush's Vision Of "Ending Tyranny"
(CBS) The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.
Remember President Bush's sweeping goal of "ending tyranny around the world," laid out during his 2004 inaugural address?
The Washington Post serves up some recent examples and hard analysis of just how dead in the water that idea now is.
During a democracy conference in Prague in June, Mr. Bush sat down with opposition leaders from authoritarian societies, pledged to order U.S. ambassadors to meet with dissidents, and boasted he had created a fund to help embattled human-rights defenders.
But the State Department didn't send out the cable directing ambassadors to sit down with dissidents until two months later, the Post reports. "And, to this day, not a nickel has been transferred to the fund he touted."
That sort of inability to put his money where his mouth is has become the rule rather than the exception when it comes to advancing his democracy agenda, the Post reports. Of course, it's not all Mr. Bush's fault. Many in his administration never bought into the idea, and some even undermined it, "including his own vice president."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/20/the_skinny/main3183978.shtml