Makes The Case: Bush No Unilaterist

This article was in the Wall Street Journal Opinion section Dec. 13, 2008, and it is a good read. Here is an excerpt:

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Bush Was No Unilateralist.

By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL.

To make the point, she tells a story of Afghan women. "On one of the first visits that we made to Afghanistan, we met two young women in their 20s in Kabul. They were setting up a micro-finance bank, and they said, 'We need resources so women can set up their own businesses.' One of our members from the private sector did give resources specifically to help. . . . The next time we came to Afghanistan, we had to meet at the cafeteria at the embassy, because now there were 80 to 100 women, and they were all owners of businesses, everything from kites to a cement factory, to furniture to rugs.

"The third time we went to meet with them, we had to meet at their headquarters, and those headquarters encompassed an entire federation of Afghan women entrepreneurs. They are incredible. And it was striking to us, what a little targeted assistance could do to support this fundamental change from the time of the Taliban." The point, she explains, is that no country can be stable so long as only half of its population is free to succeed. And foreign stability makes the U.S. safer.

With a staff of 800, Ms. Dobriansky's office oversees a whirlwind of similar programs. Early on, the Bush administration created an office to combat the trafficking of persons. Today, dozens of countries are actively working on prevention, prosecutions, and the protection of victims. In 2002, the U.S. announced the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, in which some 40 governments and groups work to preserve the world's second-largest area of tropical rain forest. In 2005, President Bush announced an international partnership to combat a pandemic avian influenza outbreak. At the time, about 40 nations had preparedness plans; today, as many as 130 countries do.

And then there are the democracy initiatives. With U.S. leadership, in 2005 the United Nations created the Democracy Fund, designed to finance projects that build democratic institutions. More than 35 countries have contributed some $100 million to the fund, which has already green-lighted 85 projects. In 2002, the Bush State Department created the Middle East Partnership Initiative. It is now funding more than 350 initiatives in 15 countries, focusing on everything from press rights in Algeria to legal rights for Yemeni women. One project brings young women here from every country in the Middle East to work in Fortune 500 companies. [Continue reading.]
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She also explains the many other efforts President Bush has made as far as helping people all over the world, especially Africa, concerning HIV/AIDS, polio, malaria, etc. He has also tried to get people to look for medium and long term solutions to climate change (WHICH ARE MADE BY GOD, hey, never said I agreed with everything he did, lol), and many other projects. And the Left/Marxists just can't stand to give him ANY credit. She does, and she is from the State Dept. So there!

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

Cross-posted @ Rosemary's News and Ideas. Digg!