DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, HUMAN RIGHTS... 

We are all proud to be AMERICANS. We are proud, not because of the geographical location of our country. Not because we ethnically superior to others - we are no different than others. We are proud of what America stands for, Democracy, Freedom and Human rights. 

President Bush, in his election speech and elsewhere, has repeatedly said that we shall defend democracy and freedom where ever and when ever it is threatened. 

Rhetoric aside, let us reflect on the deeds of our president rather than "read his lips." 

The Chinese government demolishes its democratic movement by exterminating six thousand student. Bush gives China a most favored status as a reward. 

The Baltic states demand their independence from the Soviet Union - a long standing US request. Bush denies them that right, and claims that they are disrupting the peace. 

However Bush's most notable offence on freedom came in the Middle East. 

This is not a defence of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Personally I condemn any usurpation of one peoples rights by another, simply because the later cannot defend itself. 

However when president Bush places more value on the wealth and prestige of the Kuwaiti ruling family than the collective lives of the population of the Middle East, something is not right. This is evident to anybody keeping up with the Mideast developments over the last two years. Specially in Lebanon. 

For those who are not familiar with Lebanon, it is the only country in the Middle East in which all people are equal under the law. In fact the Lebanese constitution is so similar to ours that some think it was a modified adoption. What the Lebanese are accused of, as inequality, is no more than the Lebanese version of our own affirmative action laws. 

After fifteen years of occupation and brutal invasions that took more than two hundred thousand lives, injured more than half a million, displaced more than two thirds of the population and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage; the Lebanese were accused of madness for even requesting the withdrawal of foreign forces. 

The Bush administration has collaborated with monarchs and dictators in an attempt to enforce Syrian and Israeli occupation in Lebanon. He requested the Saudi government to spend two billion dollars to help install a government in Lebanon made up of notorious drug dealers and gangsters. More than ninety per cent of the Lebanese publicly denounced and protested the legitimacy of that government. 

When more than a quarter of the population formed a human shield around the presidential palace to prevent the Syrian army from occupying it - an unprecedented, historic act of patriotism, where the civilian population faces tanks and heavy artillery to defend its army - president Bush put his agents to work again. He solicited Saudi funds again, but this time to pay forty million dollars to a drug dealer, who happens to be a Christian, and get the Israelis to arm his men so he can attack the people from within. This tactic, despite of direct Israeli intervention, still failed to eliminate Lebanese quest for Freedom. 

President Bush threatened to veto any UN resolution calling for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon, or a resolution calling for UN sponsored free elections. 

Today he sends our troops to defend an absolute monarchy and the demand the re-establishment of another. He risks the lives of our boys and the lives of the citizens of those countries whose oppressors he aims to protect. 

He forms alliances with the Iranian and Syrian governments. The same people responsible for killing our Marines in Beirut and the downing of PANAM flight 103. The same people who have killed thousands of Americans and continue to hold our hostages in the areas they occupy in Lebanon. 

Is it the brutality of the Iraqi invasion? Hardly. If we reflect back at the scenes of devastation resulting from the acts of aggression on Lebanon, and compare them to what we see today, we find there is no comparison. 

Is it the acclaimed Syrian military power that we could not handle? Again, hardly. The Iraqi armed forces are much more formidable than the Syrians. 

We certainly are able to exert pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from Lebanon if we wanted to. We fund their operations. 

Why does president Bush do this? The reasons are many. The interests of the United States is not among them. 

I have not yet meet a single person in this country, who supports monarchies, or advocates helping dictators in their efforts to dissolve a democratic society. Yet, our president categorically rejects even discussing any solutions that involve elections in Kuwait - the country he claims to be defending. 

My understanding of Democracy, is a government elected by the people for the people. This means the government should execute the will of the people, not forgo all popular considerations. I do not believe that any American wishes to shed the blood of our brave soldiers to perpetuate the oppression of others. 

The day the freely elected president of the greatest democracy ignores the wishes and well being of his own people and sets out to oppress other nations is a sad day in history. Let us not make it permanent.