January 15

“Gaza has to be erased from the map by nuclear bombs, like what Americans used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

--Israeli MP and leader Avigdor Lieberman, as quoted in Kawther Salam, "Warning: Israel Plans to Strike Gaza Hospitals," Palestine Think Tank and in other Internet sources. PHOTO: Lieberman.

“In a poll published by Yedioth Ahronoth on 21 September 2006, Lieberman had more support than any politician except for Netanyahu to be the next Prime Minister of Israel (Olmert came in fifth, with 7%).”

--Wikipedia

“the Oxford dictionary defines the word ‘holocaust’ as follows: ‘noun. 1 destruction or slaughter on a mass scale. 2 (the Holocaust) the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime in World War II.’ The difference, in the Oxford dictionary's view is a subtle one; in the first definition word is in lowercase; while the second is capitalized.” IMAGE from

--From "Where is the Truth?" in Middle East Times

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public Diplomacy 2.0 or Propaganda Museum Exhibits - Ted Lipien, FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog: “[A] number of recent U.S. State Department political appointees responsible for public diplomacy and officials in charge of U.S. international broadcasting have enthusiastically embraced propaganda advertising as the primary solution to the problems of how the Bush Administration and the United States are perceived abroad. … Instead of responsible and balanced journalism by Voice of America, foreign audiences are now being offered short propaganda videos and entertainment-rich programs produced by private contractors. A similar effort to replace journalism with questionable marketing and advertising concepts has been underway for a number of years at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which is responsible for U.S. international broadcasts. … Contrary to what BBG members believe, including its most recent chairman, traditional independent radio and television journalism can be successfully merged with Web 2.0 concepts and can achieve high audience ratings without resorting to questionable management techniques, marketing practices and crude propaganda.” PHOTO: Ted Lipien

Getting It: Do ordinary Iranians understand the Israel/Hamas conflict better than the experts? - Clifford D. May, National Review: “Jeffrey Gedmin is president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, whose Iranian service, Radio Farda, has been receiving messages from its Iranian listeners regarding the war in Gaza. Many have been along the lines Iran’s rulers prefer and you might expect: ‘Death to Israel, to the imperialists and Zionists!’ But the ‘majority,’ Gedmin told me, has been of a different nature. Here’s a sampling (translated from the Farsi): [among them] ‘The clerical regime is lying. It was not Israel who started this war.’" PHOTO: Jeffrey Gedmin

Smart Power and PSYOP - Lawrence Dietz, PSYOP Regimental Blog: “It is likely that the Obama administration, led by Secretary of State Clinton, would increase the resourcing for Public Diplomacy.

The will likely lead to more strategic level work since that can be accomplished from the safety of Washington, DC. An increase of strategic public diplomacy and the communications that go with it will require enhanced interaction between DOD and DOS.”

Terrorism's Twelve Step Program - Bruce Hoffman, National Interest: “1. The fundamental organizing principle of America’s struggle against terrorism as a global war has outlived its utility. … Accordingly, it may be more useful to reconceptualize this struggle in terms of a global counterinsurgency (GCOIN). Such an approach would a priori knit together the equally critical political, economic, diplomatic, information and developmental sides inherent to the successful prosecution of counterinsurgency to the existing dominant military side of the equation. … more focused and strengthened interagency process would also facilitate the coordination of key themes and messages and the development and execution of long-term "hearts and minds" programs. … 2. … The United States … requires a strategy that harnesses the overwhelming kinetic force of the American military as part of a comprehensive vision to transform other, non-kinetic instruments of national power in order to deal more effectively with irregular and unconventional threats. 5. Information operations that delegitimize the top leaders of terrorist groups and undermine the image of these groups’ omnipotence is an essential adjunct to kinetic approaches. … Therefore focused and sufficiently resourced public diplomacy and information-operations campaigns to discredit these leaders and undermine images of their and their groups’ omnipotence are critical elements in effectively countering terrorism.” … 8. Equal emphasis has to be given to the importance of information operations, psychological operations and public diplomacy alongside kinetic approaches. …The problem is that no agency or office has the lead for overseeing, coordinating and integrating information operations. Multiple agencies share this mission and within those agencies multiple offices claim responsibility: the result is duplication and redundancy and many voices speaking at once rather than one voice with one clear, authoritative message directing this process. Inadequate resources are an additional problem as information operations and public diplomacy remain distinct secondary priorities in the struggle against terrorism.”

Public diplomacy and information operations to combat terrorism - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Elliott discussing above article: “Content that discredits terrorist leaders might not be so effective if it comes from a U.S. source, or at least a source identified with the United States. As for the 'multiple agencies,' I assume the problem is coordinating Defense and (if there are any) intelligence agency efforts, because public diplomacy and especially (overt) international broadcasting shouldn't really be doing 'information operations.' Wouldn't the National Security Council, somewhere in its staff structure, be the entity to coordinate information operations?” See also John Brown, “Public Diplomacy and Propaganda: Their Differences” (American Diplomacy)

Where is the Truth? - Middle East Times, Egypt: “It is said that truth is the first casualty of war. Indeed it is. The war in Gaza is a prime example of how the truth suffers in time of conflict. And both sides are guilty of making a casualty out of the truth. It just so happens that one side is more sophisticated at it than the other. Naturally, they don't call it lying, nor do they call it bending the truth. Instead, it is given the sterile name of ‘public relations,’ or ‘public diplomacy.’”

Turkish Dilemma: Can the frayed relationship between the United States and Turkey be repaired? - Jeffrey Azarva, Weekly Standard: “Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party--an Islamist-rooted party known by its Turkish acronym, the AKP--and its media organs [stoke] rampant anti-Americanism. … I observed the cumulative effect of such slander when I met with college students in the city of Adana. The meeting, part of a State Department-funded exchange program to bridge the gap in U.S-Turkish relations, revealed distorted views of the United States in the Turkish press.”

Key Questions for Janet Napolitano, Nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security - Jena Baker McNeill, Webmemo #2204, Heritage Foundation: "Question #3: The Visa Waiver Program: Please describe your views regarding the Visa Waiver Program's role in America's overall public diplomacy strategy, including ongoing efforts to strengthen the VWP. Describe any challenges you see to its continuance in the next Administration. Answer: The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a vital public diplomacy tool. Membership in the program communicates to countries that the United States trusts them. And the VWP allows America to sustain relationships with our historical allies while forging new relationships with countries whose interests align with our security priorities. … It is vital that DHS and the Congress work together to find a solution that will not halt the expansion of VWP.” PHOTO: Janet Napolitano.

Symposium Audio: Glassman and Doran Keynotes – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Complete audio for the 2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium will be available soon.

The transcript will be available in about two weeks. [In below link], however, are mp3's for the two keynotes.”

“Fixing Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications,” by S. Enders Wimbush - Transition Papers List – Hudson Institute Bookstore: “American public diplomacy and strategic communications have been failing since the end of the Cold War. We are neither promoting American values effectively nor winning the war of ideas. Public diplomacy and strategic communications are perversely under-funded. They will continue to fail until the new administration establishes and delivers funding at a level commensurate with these activities’ strategic importance.”

BYU Kennedy Center Upcoming Events - David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies: “International Relations Lecture: ‘Kipling's Ghost: Decolonization, Public Diplomacy, and the Invention of the Third World,' Jason C. Parker, assistant professor of history, Texas A&M University, [Wed, 25 Mar.]”

Libyan Head of State Incites Controversy at Georgetown - Kevin Suyo, thehoya.com: “The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies came under fire last week by a former World Bank executive for planning to host controversial Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi at an upcoming video lecture. In an open letter to CCAS director and School of Foreign Service Professor Michael Hudson, Hafed Al-Ghwell, the former manager of the Public Diplomacy and Information Center at the World Bank Group in D.C. and current director at the Dubai School of Government, argues that the lecture will legitimize the past actions of al-Qaddafi — including public hangings, forced exiles, home demolitions and abuse, according to Al-Ghwell.”

Private Diplomacy - Enemy Central, American Spectator: “Here we have a major dinner at George Will's, starring the nation's acting president who next Tuesday makes it official and ten leading conservative pundits, some of whom didn't even vote the man. … Thus we had George

coming on to Hillary (‘First of all, I want to thank you for the time we spent on the telephone and also for your receiving a very lengthy letter from me’ -- luckily Bill's not the jealous type!) and then distancing himself from her (Republican) predecessor (‘And we all know that our public diplomacy is at a low ebb. I think Secretary Rice has tried to do a good job…. But, you know, once the water goes over the dam, it's hard to bring it back up’ -- Republicans, in other words, can't afford to waste good water) and finally putting in his application for a plum ambassadorship in Western Europe (‘And I think that the Obama policy, 'smart power' -- I was in Europe this last month, and they're all excited about our new president’).” PHOTO: Columnist George Will.

AJC Concludes Solidarity Mission to Israel - PRNews wire-USNewswire: “A 20-person AJC solidarity mission concluded its visit to Israel today [Jan. 13]. … In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the delegation met with Foreign Minister Livni, senior defense officials, and major Knesset candidates, and discussed key advocacy challenges with the Foreign Ministry and IDF officials in charge of public diplomacy.”

Analysis: Where to talk tough - David Horovitz, Jerusalem Post: “Israel's public diplomacy strategists … are emphasizing anything but threats of more violence. What needs to be stressed, they say, is Hamas's indifference to Palestinian loss of life, as exemplified by its operating from mosques, schools and homes, and Israel's efforts to defang Hamas while minimizing that loss of civilian life. Israel's public diplomacy, incidentally, is not being helped by the IDF's vagueness about the Palestinian death toll. The IDF Spokesman's Office reports that more than 300 Hamas gunmen have been killed since the limited ground offensive was launched on January 3, but it offers no firm figures for the proportion of Hamas members in the overall death toll of 900-plus. … Meanwhile, if the public diplomacy strategists are counseling sensitivity, Olmert and his leadership colleagues emphatically do have a diplomatic forum in which to stress their firmness and resolution, with Egypt as their prime focus.”

Israel’s Propaganda War - RamallahOnline: “Following its 2006 war with Lebanon, Israel decided that it needed to set up a Public Relations program to deal with hasbara- Hebrew for ‘explanation’, since the media coverage and death toll in that war—over 1,000 Lebanese civilians, made Israel look ‘bad’. In other words, the ‘National Information Directorate’, created in 2008, deals with information, spin,


and propaganda. This program has been put to use for the first time on a world-wide scale with the Israeli invasion of Gaza. … The 'anti-Hamas-pro-Israeli' message sent out via international media is the Directorate’s primary focus. The basic strategy of the ‘hasbara apparatus’ is to coordinate all of the Israeli agencies that deal with communication relations and public diplomacy, so that they form and present a unified message to the media.”

Tweeting For Israel – Jewish Week: “[David] Saranga, Israel's consul for media and public affairs in the Israel Consulate, has led the consulate to the frontlines of a cyber battle that aims to spread Israel’s message to as many people as possible and create an instant dialogue with public opinion, he said. … As war strategies change, so too must public diplomacy, Saranga argues, a lesson that he feels Israel learned in part during 2006. ‘Unfortunately during the war in Lebanon our new media efforts weren’t as powerful, but let’s not forget that two and a half years have passed and the new media and technology world has developed,’ he said. … Saranga said that he decided to use Twitter after witnessing the success of President-Elect Barack Obama’s smooth implementation of new media in his campaign.”

On Saranga, see John Brown, "Public Diplomacy Goes 'Pubic,'" Public Diplomacy Bog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, which notes that: "It would not do violence to history to suggest that [a] new branch of public diplomacy -- allow me to call it pubic diplomacy, a term I hope will offend no one -- began on Tuesday, May 19, 2007 at 9:00 pm, with a three-hour reception, hosted by Maxim, a men’s magazine, and Gal Gadot, Miss Israel 2004 -- together with the Consulate General of Israel in New York -- that took place at the Marquee at 289 Tenth Avenue, NYC. The purpose of the event was to celebrate the Maxim Magazine July 2007 feature, ‘women of the Israeli Defense Forces.'

... . Joel Leyden of the Israel News Agency (June 24) quotes David Saranga, Israel's Consul For Media And Public Affairs at its New York Consulate, as saying that '[w]e found that Israel's image among men aged 18-38 is lacking … so we thought we'd approach them with an image they'd find appealing.' Leydeen adds that, according to Saranga, 'the beautiful models in Israel were a 'Trojan horse' to present Israel as a modern country with nice beaches and pretty women. 'Many Americans don't even know we have beaches,' he said.” PHOTO from

Israel Activists Blending New, Traditional Tactics In PR Battle - Ben Harris and Joshua Spiro, JTA: “As Israel takes to the Internet in search of innovative ways to make its case about Gaza to the world, Jews around the globe also are utilizing innovative methods -- and particularly new technological tools -- to explain what the Jewish state is facing as it acts to protect its southern flank from rocket fire. StandWithUs, a Los Angeles-based pro-Israel group, has established a round-the-clock Internet task force -- in cooperation with the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel -- to monitor Web sites and provide instant responses to attacks on the Jewish state. Some 15 to 20 volunteers staff two situation rooms, in Herzliya and Jerusalem, that promote pro-Israel content on social networking Web sites, respond to online opinion polling and try to alter the tenor of discussions in Internet chat rooms.”

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: "Against the background of implications of five-day in Georgia, the negotiation process within the Minsk Group of the OSCE was intensified" - Today.Az: “Azerbaijan successfully continued its cooperation with NATO in areas of regional and energy security, fight against terrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, illegal drug and human trafficking, border security, elimination of consequences of emergency situations, reforms in security and other areas.

In March of 2008, the second document on the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) was adopted, launching the next cycle of IPAP implementation, which provides for deeper political dialogue with NATO, realization of reforms in the area of defense and security and cooperation in the sphere of science and public diplomacy.” PHOTO: A bathtub of crude in Azerbaijan.

Group of Chinese students coming to Ethiopia – Walta Information Center, Ethiopia: “A group of 18 Chinese students will arrive here to visit the natural and historical places of Ethiopia. … Public diplomacy and public relations acting director with MoFA , Teferi Melese on his part said the visit of the students to Ethiopia is an indication that the bilateral ties between the two nations is transforming into people-to-people relations. The acting director also indicated that the Ministry has been engaged in various activities to promote Ethiopia’s tourist attractions over the past years.”

RELATED ITEMS

U.S. State Department: Osama Bin Laden's Latest Message A "Propaganda Effort" – RTT News

Websites Becoming Propaganda Machine For Gaza Crisis - redorbit.com: The Internet has become a major tool for propaganda during the current Israeli and Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip. Computer users are being warned to be on the lookout for phishing emails and webmasters must be extra careful to ensure their servers are secure, as activists have turned to defacing websites, taking over computers, and shutting down Facebook groups. So far, several U.S. Military sites, NATO and an Israeli Bank have all been targeted. So-called “hacktivism” -- the hacking of security barriers for political or ideological reasons -- has been increasing as Internet use continues to spread across the world.


Independent Groups Debunk Israeli War Propaganda - Thalif Deen, IPS News, AlterNet: As the Israelis try to justify the massive loss of civilian life in Gaza, their arguments and counter-charges continue to be shot down either by the United Nations or by international human rights organizations.

The Importance of India: Bush deserves credit for boosting relations with New Delhi - Duncan Currie, Weekly Standard

Powers that need each other – Editorial, Boston Globe: The US-China relationship is one of the few bright spots on the new administration's foreign policy dossier.

Obamalot: Barack could be the first president in decades to boost high culture - Jed Perl, New Republic: Barack Obama, on "Meet the Press," announced that "our art and our culture, our science, that's the essence of what makes America special." Skeptics might say, and say with good reason, that Obama was offering nothing more than a platitude. Is American culture more special to America than Russian culture is to Russia or Chinese culture is to China? And yet the very bluntness of Obama's statement--its platitudinousness, if you will--had a drama. There are times when a platitude is a wonderful thing--a crude version of the truth. And this could be one of those times.

Obama's call to arts: The president-elect's proposed Artists Corps is one plank in his push to revitalize the arts in education - Gloria Goodale, Christian Science Monitor: Expect the White House to host a steady stream of artists, including jazz and classical musicians as well as poetry readings. "Our art, our culture," the president-elect told anchor Tom Brokaw on "Meet the Press," on Dec. 15, "that's the essence of what makes America special, and we want to make as much of that as possible in the White House." See also John Brown, “Rejuvenate Public Diplomacy! Bring Culture Back to the White House,” Common Dreams (November 7, 2008)

Ten Bush mistakes: Rich Lowry, Washington Times: One of these Mistakes: - Underestimating the power of explanation. By temperament and ability, Mr. Bush was more a “decider” than a “persuader.” He is not naturally drawn to public argument, giving his administration its unfortunate (and not entirely fair) “my way or the highway” reputation at home and abroad.

The Foreign Service’s ‘Half-Baked’ Fiasco - Alexandra Andrews, propublica.org: As Hillary Clinton inches closer to a new role as secretary of state, she’s set to inherit a troubled Foreign Service program initiated by her predecessor. The current issue of Foreign Service Journal takes a look at the initiative, a key component of Sec. Condoleezza Rice's Transformational Democracy initiative, and concludes that its track record falls somewhere short of transformational (PDF). COURTESY "TEX" HARRIS. See also John Brown, "Spreading Bush's Gospel," TomPaine.com (January 30, 2006)

Has Condi Already Had Her Last Matching Armchairs Photo-Op? – Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: In this image released Thursday Dec. 4, 2008 by Pakistan's Press Information Department, U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, meets Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Rice said the Pakistani government must mount a 'robust response' to the terror shooting in India, which blames the carnage on terrorists operating from neighboring Pakistan. (AP Photo/Press Information Department, HO). COMMENT: “Yikes! Is it true? As far as I can tell, the photo above shows the Condi's most recent Matching Armchairs Classic™ Photo-Op. It was so unremarkable at the time that I didn't even bother posting what is now clearly an historic photograph. Did the State Department consciously eliminate the MAPO? Will Hillary carry on using the classic State Dept. Reception Room MAPO? Or will the MAPO dwindle with Condi's exit? So many questions about this important topic!"

AMERICANA




--Detroit cars, from Slate

HISTORIC DOCUMENT

Ceremony to Commemorate Foreign Policy Achievements (2001-2009),

Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Benjamin Franklin Room, Washington, DC, January 15, 2009 - U.S. Department of State

View Video

SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the State Department. A special welcome, of course, to the President and to our First Lady.

Today is a very special day. We are going to commemorate many of the achievements of our nation over the last eight years in furthering the Freedom Agenda.

Mr. President, we’ve been through a lot together in the last eight years. But of course, you’ve also been through it with a great partner, our First Lady.

And I want to begin our ceremony by acknowledging with deep gratitude this generous woman who has been not just your partner, Mr. President, for the entire time that you’ve been married, which is now a really long time – (laughter) – but also in the last eight years, and particularly, I’m very pleased to say, in my four years as Secretary, a great partner for the Secretary of State.

I have watched – we have watched with great pleasure and admiration as Mrs. Bush has stepped onto the world stage with all of the grace and compassion

and dedication to human dignity for which I’ve always cherished her as my friend.

So, Mrs. Bush, on behalf of the men and women of the Department of State, it is my honor to present to you a certificate of recognition for all that you have done to champion the cause of liberty, opportunity, and the equal rights of all human beings. The award is right here, and you can pick it up later, but you can go and look at it if you’d like. (Laughter and Applause.)

Now, just so you know what’s on the award, I am going to read the citation. It says: Mrs. Laura Bush, as a passionate and tireless champion of freedom and a leading figure in the international fight against disease and political oppression, you have symbolized the diplomacy of deeds to millions of people around the world. Whether working to advance the interests of women in Afghanistan, helping children in Iraq,

supporting the righteous struggle of dissidents in Burma, promoting global literacy, or mobilizing efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, breast cancer, and other global scourges, you have embodied the highest ideals of the values of the American people, and spread a message of hope and compassion throughout the world. Thank you. (Applause.)

Mr. President, almost four years ago in this very room and on this very stage, I was humbled and honored to stand beside you, and with the many dedicated men and women of America’s diplomatic corps to take the Oath of Office. In your remarks that day, you echoed the ringing themes of your second inaugural address, and you gave America’s diplomats the charge we have sought to keep and carry forward over these last years. You said, and I quote, “Widespread hatred and radicalism cannot survive the advent of freedom and self-government. Our nation will be more secure, the world will be more peaceful, as freedom advances.”Mr. President, the Office of the Presidency may change hands next week. But this mission, the support of human dignity and human liberty, will endure, for it is as old as America itself.

Over the past eight years, these principles have guided our diplomacy through the fog of events that were often without precedent, and for which there was no reliable compass – except, of course, the North Star of commitment to an unwavering belief in the power of freedom.

Mr. President, we have undertaken endeavors that some thought impossible, fostering new patterns of cooperation among countries that never knew them, expanding and transforming old alliances

to meet new challenges, and supporting people who never knew freedom, never practiced democracy, and never tasted justice under laws of their own making.

History, Mr. President, has a way of playing a little trick on human memory. As the din of debate and argument fades, things that were once thought to be impossible are remembered years later as, well, inevitable. That is why, Mr. President, history’s judgment is rarely the same as today’s headlines.

It will seem, one day, inevitable, Mr. President, that NATO would grow from 19 members in 2001 to 26 today, with two more soon to join. It will seem inevitable that the Czech Republic and Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia would sit side-by-side with the older members of an alliance which vanquished Soviet imperialism, and that a summit would be held in 2006 in the former captive nation of Latvia.

And it will seem inevitable that a group of democracies that first banded together to defend peace and freedom in Europe would transform their alliance to support peace and freedom far from Europe, in Afghanistan, and beyond.

And so today, Mr. President, it is my pleasure, on behalf of the men and women of the Department of State, to present you with a commemoration of the NATO enlargement that you led.

(Commemorative plaque is presented.)

(Applause.)

Mr. President, it’s also going to seem inevitable that peoples with long histories of oppression would gain the opportunity to liberate their countries, and that they would seize these opportunities, with America’s support, to make a new life for themselves in freedom. And we will remember that 60 years ago or so this also seemed quite farfetched for Japan or South Korea or Germany.

And on that day, we will remember, but it will seem inevitable, that an American president would stand before the flags with democratically elected leaders in Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. One of the questions that ask myself, Mr. President, is could you have imagined those pictures in 2001?

Probably not. Mr. President, these countries have experienced a new birth of freedom, in Abraham Lincoln’s words. Because when impatient patriots looked for support in their struggle for liberation, America and you, Mr. President, stood with them.

America did not give these people their freedom, for it is not ours to give. What America gave was opportunity, not a guarantee of success, but a chance to make their nations anew with their own talent and industry, to secure their dignity in their own democratic institutions, and to know that their horizons are unlimited.

We Americans know from our own experience that it is not easy to live up to high ideals, that the road to democracy is long, but worth the journey.

And so we have insisted that the struggle for democracy is right, not out of arrogance, but out of the humility of believing that every man, woman, and child, whatever their color or religious beliefs, deserves the same blessings of liberty that we enjoy.

In all of these countries and others like them, progress toward a freer future is real, but fragile, and it has come at tremendous cost. Most of that sacrifice has been borne quietly, courageously, and anonymously by citizens of conviction in these countries.

Much of that sacrifice has also been borne by us, by America’s diplomats, development professionals, and, of course, our men and women in uniform. These Americans, both living and departed, are heroes for all time and words do not do justice to the debt that we owe them.

The sacrifices Americans have made for the liberty of others have moved our world toward greater justice but also toward greater security. A world of fear and want and hatred, where the strong tyrannize the weak, and hope is extinguished is not a world in which Americans will ever be safe. No, we have seen that the most lasting guarantee of peace and stability between nations is liberty and justice within nations.

And on your watch, Mr. President, America has become safer, because more men and women around the world are coming to know the blessings of liberty.

And so, Mr. President, I would like to present you with another commemorative plaque. This one shows what you have done to expand the circle of human freedom in the world over the last eight years. We are joined by ambassadors from the countries of Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Liberia, and Lebanon. And Mr. President, the flags of those countries are displayed.

We are also going to present you, Mr. President -- and I’ll ask the Color Guard to bring them forward – with flag boxes that contains each nation’s flag. These flags have flown over the capitals of Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, and Kosovo.

(Commemorative plaque and flag boxes are presented.)

(Applause.)

SECRETARY RICE: Mr. President, Mrs. Bush, you are joined here by many of the people who took the charge to try and expand the circle of freedom. There are people here who have served on the desks as officers for the various countries. There are people who have served in the field. There are, of course, A-100 class members with whom you have met several times from USAID and State and the Civil – the State – Foreign Service and Civil Service, who are the future of the Foreign Service and our development professionals. And, Mr. President, they wanted to join you to commemorate what America under your leadership has done.

But if I may, I’d like to conclude on a personal note. Like you, I’ve traveled the world these past eight years, especially in my past four as Secretary, something like a million miles, I think. And I’ve seen things that I really never thought possible: Kuwaiti women gaining the right to vote; a democratic provincial council meeting in Kirkuk; the King of Saudi Arabia at an interfaith dialogue at the United Nations listening attentively to the Israeli president; men, women, and children across Africa who no longer die from AIDS, but rather live with newfound health and happiness and hope. These small glimpses of things that once seemed impossible will, in fact, one day be a full canvas of what will have been viewed to be inevitable. And that will be, in no small part, because of the dedicated people in this room with whom I have had the honor of serving.

Mr. President, I’ve been humbled by the devotion to duty that I’ve seen in the men and women of America’s diplomacy.

They’ve answered your call to become agents of change and champions of liberty. And they have made you, our beloved America, and their grateful Secretary of State very, very proud, indeed.

Thank you. (Applause.)

(President Bush comments.)

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us for this wonderful commemoration, not just of the deeds of those honored today, but for the great legacy and inheritance that we have as Americans, our own liberty and freedom, which America has never been shy in wanting to see be the legacy and inheritance of men and women worldwide.

Thank you for being with us. Thank you especially, Mr. President, Mrs. Bush. And now we are dismissed. Thank you. (Applause.)

2009/054
Released on January 15, 2009