Excerpted from President Bush's address to the American Legion - Feruary 24, 2006:
Across the world freedom is on the march, and we will not rest until the promise of freedom reaches people everywhere across the globe...
It is, in large part, because people in the Middle East have been denied legitimate means to express dissent that radical extremism has flourished. And it's only by giving people in the Middle East the freedom to express their opinions and choose their leaders that we will be able to defeat radical extremism...
The international community is... speaking with one voice to the radical regime in Tehran. Iran is a nation held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people, and denying them basic liberties and human rights...
We're also reaching out to the Iranian people to support their desire to be free; to build a free, democratic, and transparent society.
To support the Iranian people's efforts to win their own freedom, my administration is requesting $75 million in emergency funds to support democracy in Iran... These new funds will allow us to expand radio and television broadcasts into Iran. They will support reformers and dissidents and human rights activists..., so Iranians can organize and challenge the repressive policies of the clerical regime...
By supporting democratic change in Iran, we will hasten the day when the people of Iran can determine their own future and be free to choose their own leaders. Freedom in the Middle East requires freedom for the Iranian people, and America looks forward to the day when our nation can be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran.....
The advance of liberty still faces determined enemies. [They] know the stakes in the struggle... And so they'll continue to fight freedom's progress...[They] know that the only way they can defeat us is to break our will and force our retreat. And that's not going to happen so long as I'm the President of the United States...
We'll continue to stand with people of the Middle East as they step forward to claim their freedom. We can be confident in our cause because we have seen freedom conquer tyranny and secure the peace before... And now the hope of freedom is stirring in the Middle East, and no one should bet against it.
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