Bush: Hungarian Revolt Should Inspire Iraq

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Fifty years after Hungary’s revolt against communism, President Bush said Thursday that war-weary Iraqis can learn from this country’s long and bloody struggle against tyranny. “Liberty can be delayed but it cannot be denied,” the president said.“Iraq’s young democracy still faces determined enemies, people who will use violence and brutality to stop the march of freedom,” Bush said in a speech concluding a quick trip to Hungary and Austria. “Defeating these enemies will require sacrifice and continued patience, the kind of patience the good people of Hungary displayed after 1956.”Under threatening rain clouds, Bush spoke to several hundred people at Gellert Hill with a panoramic view of Budapest, the twisting Danube River and the hills beyond. Rumbles of thunder occasionally punctuated his remarks.Warily watching developments in Iran and North Korea, the administration prodded Tehran to respond as early as next week _ and by mid-July _ to an offer of incentives to suspend its disputed nuclear program. It also said preparations were “very far along” for a possible test launch of a long-range missile by North Korea but it was not certain if it would, indeed, be fired.“What we hope they will do is give it up and not launch,” said National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, traveling with Bush.The Iraq war is widely unpopular in Europe as it is in the United States, and Bush sought to compare the U.S.-led drive to implant democracy in Baghdad with uprisings that led to the collapse of the Soviet empire. But Bush also faced European concerns about secret prisons for terror suspects, U.S. abuse of Iraqi inmates and the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.“It is my firm belief that our common responsibilities, duty now, is to fight terrorism,” Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom told Bush in a gilded room at the Sandor Palace. “This fight against terrorism can be successful only if every step and measure taken are in line with international law.”It was Bush’s 15th trip as president to Europe and he will return in just a few weeks for the annual summit of industrialized democracies in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in what was East Germany under Soviet rule. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been irritated by Bush’s attention and visits to former Soviet states.Bush talked with Hungarian officials about how to reassure Putin that promoting democracy and freedom among Russia’s neighbors “is not some kind of effort to encircle Russia but is, in fact, a good thing for Russia because democratic states make good and peaceful neighbors,” Hadley said.The stop in Hungary was hurriedly arranged when a visit to Ukraine was shelved because of delays there in forming a new government. The White House settled on Hungary because October marks the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution in which students and workers demanded freedom from Moscow.Twelve days later, Soviet forces brutally crushed the rebellion as Hungarians appealed in vain for America’s intervention.“They crushed the Hungarian uprising but not the Hungarian people’s thirst for freedom,” Bush said.“In 1989 a new generation of Hungarians returned to the streets to demand their liberty and boldly helped others secure their freedom as well,” the president said. “By giving shelter to those fleeing tyranny and opening your border to the West, you helped bring down the Iron Curtain and gave the hope of freedom to millions in Central and Eastern Europe.”Bush also recalled his surprise trip to Baghdad last week and suggested similarities between Iraq and Hungary. Bush said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “is committed to the democratic ideals that also inspired Hungarian patriots in 1956 and 1989.”“The success of the new Iraqi government is vital to the security of all nations,” he said, “and so it deserves the support of the international community.”

Bush: Hungarian Revolt Should Inspire Iraq

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