Bush sets out second-term goals

MrJoeSoap

US President George W Bush has said his ultimate goal is to end tyranny in the world, in his first State of the Union address since his re-election.
He castigated the governments of Syria and Iran, urging them both to end what he called their support for terrorism.

Mr Bush also said the goal of a Palestinian state was within reach, and hailed the recent elections in Iraq.

He also promised to partially privatise the US pensions system - prompting booing from opposition Democrats.

Such signs of dissent are highly unusual during a State of the Union address.

BBC Washington correspondent Justin Webb says this was a confident performance from a president buoyed up by the weekend poll in Iraq.

"Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in the Middle East, is now being tested and honoured in Iraq," Mr Bush said.
As expected, the president did not outline a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, but he said progress made in training Iraq's security forces was gradually reducing the burden.

"Iraqis must be able to defend their own country - and we will help that proud, new nation secure its liberty," he said.

In the audience, the mother of a US marine who was killed in Iraq and an Iraqi human rights activist tearfully embraced as Mr Bush honoured those "who died for our freedom".

Mr Bush's overall approval ratings are lower than any other re-elected president in recent years.

But our correspondent says the president has real political clout - partly from the fact that his Republican Party controls both houses of Congress and partly from the election in Iraq.

Middle East peace

On efforts to promote Middle East peace, the president said he would ask Congress for $350m to support Palestinian political, economic and security reforms.

"The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace is within reach - and America will help them achieve that goal," Mr Bush said.

President Bush made a passing reference to North Korea, saying that he was working with Asian allies to convince Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Bush saved most of his criticism for Iran, calling it "the world's primary state sponsor of terror" and accusing it of pursuing nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies.

But the president emphasised diplomacy, saying he was working with European allies to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions.

The president also spoke directly to the Iranian people, encouraging them to seek democracy.

Mr Bush also singled out Syria, pressing it to "end all support for terror".

popinfresh

Hmm, so he's showing an interest in invading Iran & Syria.

toiletduck

there will be no invasion of Iran or Syria. I would think there will be a lot more covert-ops in Syria to combat the flow of terrorists into Iraq and as for Iran, i would bet that it will be a Israeli strike to take out the various nuclear sites.

Dublin8

this man is mad god knows y he has been given
americans will b now responsible for all the damage

Cannibal Ox

To make our economy stronger and more dynamic

To make our economy stronger and more competitive

To make our economy stronger and more productive

You'd think he was almost worried about the economy.

Full Speech

Sand

Im just dissapointed he seems to have abandoned the plans to build a death star and extinguish the sun.

And Bush cannot invade Iran or Syria over the next 4 years though he will rattle on about it. Iraq is the primary concern, there literally isnt the capability to secure Iraq *and* fight Iran and/or Syria. Not fricking possible.

He will however keep acting like its possible because he has to scare Iran into thinking its possible otherwise their negotiating tactic at nuclear talks will be "yeah, were developing nukes , what the **** you going to do about it?" Its a strongly held view of the Bush administration that they need to be seen as dangerous to be taken seriously by these regimes.

gandalf

MrJoeSoap is that post your own words or have you lifted the article from somewhere.

If you are quoting an article please have the decency to clearly show that and to add your own thoughts and comments on its content.

I expect a clarification of this within 24 hours or I will close this thread.

Hobbes

I liked his comment...

"Weapons of mass [pause] murder".

Seriously though it was the usual pomp and tripe. I believe he got boo'ed when he started talking about social security.

jhegarty

gandalf wrote:

MrJoeSoap is that post your own words or have you lifted the article from somewhere.

If you are quoting an article please have the decency to clearly show that and to add your own thoughts and comments on its content.

I expect a clarification of this within 24 hours or I will close this thread.

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_15957.shtml

i persume that answers the question....

MizzKattt

Cannibal Ox wrote:

You'd think he was almost worried about the economy.

He should be. Its a subject he has been neglecting since his first days in office. Former President Bill Clinton spent freely and began many useless programs leaving our economic cycle in a downward slope. Clinton was able to step out of office and leave Bush to wipe up the economic mess. Unfortunately, it has been an important topic Bush has avoided until recently. Now he has to address it to justify the money spent on the war.

Hobbes

MizzKattt wrote:

Former President Bill Clinton spent freely and began many useless programs leaving our economic cycle in a downward slope.

I need to dig out the stats again, but you are totally wrong. 1999 the Federal reserve had a balanced budget for the first time since 1969. The decline didn't happen until after Bush took office, and has been declining like crazy since.

Champ

US Budget graph 1961 - 2004:
http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm

US National Debt Clock:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.95 billion per day since September 30, 2004

Bearing this in mind it's going to be interesting to see how the budget is going to be balanced, if indeed there's going to be a real effort to do so.