"We are Heirs to the Same Civilization"

In a close to 30-minute address at the Bundestag on Thursday, U.S. President George W. Bush largely avoided controversy and instead focused on Russia and the need to expand NATO’s mandate to address present day challenges. Additionally, he emphasized the role of development aid and poverty eradication as key strategies for preventing the economic and political conditions that breed terrorists.

Bush called on Europe to work together with the U.S. to "build the house of freedom." Since the September 11 attacks in the United States, he said, it has become more important than ever for countries to work together to preserve their freedom. He urged unity in fighting the forces of evil and protecting democracy.

"Our generation faces new and grave threats to liberty, to the safety of our people and to civilization itself," Bush said. "We face an aggressive force that glorifies death," Bush told the fully-assembled German parliament. "We will face these challenges together, we must face them together, those who despise human freedom will attack it on every continent."

"This threat cannot be appeased or ignored. By being patient, relentless and resolute, we will defeat the enemies of freedom," Bush announced. He concluded the speech by stating: "Inside this chamber, across this city, throughout this nation and continent, America has valued friends. And with our friends we are building that house of freedom -- for our time and for all time."

Since the bombing of Kabul by U.S. and British war planes last fall, resistance from the left has been growing in Europe against the United States-led international war on terror. That skepticism has been in overdrive since Tuesday, as thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Berlin to protest the continuing military action.

But in his address to the Bundestag, Bush sought to reassure Germans and Europeans and win their continued support for what promises to be a long campaign to eradicate the planet of Osama bin Laden-type rogues.

He also gave Berliners, who have often felt ignored by American politicians since the end of the Cold War, a gentle pat on the back. "The history of our time is written in the life of Berlin," he said, before offering "a new era has arrived -- the strong Germany you have built is good for the world."

Avoiding conflict

Bush’s speech concentrated on the common aspects linking Europe and the United States. Whereas the opening speech by Wolfgang Thierse, president of the Bundestag, alluded to the Kyoto Protocol and the U.S. rejection of the International Court of Justice – two points of conflict between Europe and the U.S. – Bush stuck to a general agenda with sweeping statements neither side could oppose.

He briefly touched on issues in the Middle East and paid tribute to both sides by saying that a peace plan had to include the security and safety of the Jewish people as well as a Palestinian state.

"We must continue to stand for peace in the Middle East," Bush said. "That peace must assure the permanent safety of the Jewish people. And that peace must provide the Palestinian people with a state of their own."

He also referred to improved relations with Russia and the eastward expansion of NATO. "A new Russian-American partnership is being forged," Bush stated confidently. "The United States and Russia are ridding ourselves of the last vestiges of Cold War confrontation," he said referring to the nuclear arms reduction treaty he plans to sign in Moscow this week.

The "house of freedom"

Bush also sought to defuse the notion that American and European interests have diverged. "America and the nations in Europe are more than military allies, we're more than trading partners; we are heirs to the same civilization", Bush stressed. "Different as we are, we are building and defending the same house of freedom."

When Europe grows in unity, Europe and America grow in security, Bush said. "When you integrate your markets and share a currency in the European Union, you are creating the conditions for security and common purpose. In all these steps, Americans do not see the rise of a rival, we see the end of old hostilities. We see the success of our allies, and we applaud your progress."

However, Bush warned that this progress and freedom needs to be defended jointly by both Europeans and Americans.

"Together, we oppose an enemy that thrives on violence and the grief of the innocent. The terrorists are defined by their hatreds: they hate democracy and tolerance and free expression and women and Jews and Christians and all Muslims who disagree with them. Others killed in the name of racial purity, or the class struggle. These enemies kill in the name of a false religious purity, perverting the faith they claim to hold. In this war we defend not just America or Europe. We are defending civilization itself."

Interruptions

Bush’s speech was met with resounding applause from the members of parliament, who endorsed the president’s calls for freedom and the protection of democracy.

However, at one point three members of parliament from the Party of Democratic Socialism, the dovish successor party to East Germany’s communists, unfurled a banner reading: "Mr. Bush and Mr. Schröder - Stop your wars!"

Floating the Iraq Trial Balloon

Though Bush did not raise the issue of Iraq - a lightning rod for media and political criticism and the subject of demonstrations attended by thousands here in recent week - he did do so at a press conference given just prior to the Bundestag speech with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

"I have no war plans on my desk," the president said, but he said he had made it known to Schröder that he sought to expand the war beyond Afghanistan. "He knows my position and the world knows my position about Saddam Hussein. He's a dangerous man."

"It's dangerous to think of a scenario where a country like Iraq would link up with an al Qaida-type organization. It's a threat to civilization itself," he said.