Welcome to "Ask the White House"---note her job title.

I have not seen this before--new to me.



Welcome to "Ask the White House" -- an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Administration officials and friends of the White House. Visit the "Ask the White House" archives to read other discussions with White House officials.



Meghan O'Sullivan
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq
June 28, 2005

Meghan O'Sullivan
Welcome to Ask the White House. President Bush just hosted Iraqi Prime Minister Ja'afari – the first elected Iraqi leader in more than 50 years – at the White House. And tonight, the President will talk to America about our involvement in Iraq, the progress we and the Iraqis have been making, and the challenges ahead. I am happy to be able to answer your questions on Iraq today.

Laurence, from England writes:
Is the democracy in Iraq freedom? or is it just the Bush administration's belief on what freedom is and forcing it on the Iraqi people?

Meghan O'Sullivan

The President has put nurturing democracy and freedom at the heart of his agenda, both because he believes in the universal desire of people to determine who governs them and because he believes that America is safer the fewer people in the world live under tyranny. But the President has made equally clear that America will not impose democracy on other countries. In his inaugural address, he said America’s goal is “to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.”

And that is exactly what America is doing in Iraq. Anyone who questions the desire of the Iraqi people to live in a democracy need not look far to be convinced of their commitment. Under the threat of intimidation and violence, more than 8 million people risked their lives to go to the polls in January 2005 to elect a government for the first time in more than 50 years. And since April 2003, thousands of Iraqis have come forward to serve their country and play their part in building a new democracy. They have served – and some have died – as part of Iraq’s security forces, national government, local institutions, and Iraq’s courts. When I was in Baghdad in June 2004, speaking with Iraqi leaders who just accepted appointments as ministers in Iraq’s interim government, I asked one minister if he was worried about his security. He said, “I know it is possible – even likely – that I will be killed in this position. But if I don’t step forward to build a democratic Iraq, I can’t blame others for not stepping forward. We must be willing to sacrifice to make our new country.”...............

That word has no use in this maladministration. Nurturing? The very thought of any of these people and that word makes me nauseous.