For the Love of Freedom!

It seems that wherever President Bush travels in the world, he encounters protests, anti-American crowds, hatred, and even violence. At the G8 summit, German police arrested numerous protesters for throwing stones, bottles, and nearly anything else available in a protest against President Bush’s visit.
That is… until the President arrived in Albania this past Sunday.

Yes, the same Albania that used to be a part of the old Soviet Union. One of several countries that remember repression and life in a country without freedom. A country that was given its chance to live free by the strength of the United States throughout the cold war, and its eventual defeat of the Soviet Empire.

As commentators said, “Albanians greeted our President as if he were a rock star.”

Those in Europe have forgotten their short period of oppression by Hitler. They have failed to remember the bloody lessons they learned through a couple of short years with their freedom removed. They ignore the fact that it was the blood of American soldiers on the shores of Europe 63 years ago, that led to their liberation from the occupation of Nazi Germany.

Now, the countries of Europe greet our President by protesting his liberation of yet another country by the force of the American military.

However, should we expect any better from those who are only 63 years removed from a tyrannical oppression? Americans have never known the oppression of a dictatorship. Americans have never experienced a country where they could not speak their mind. Americans cannot comprehend dark figures busting down doors in the middle of the night, making people “disappear” forever.

Albanians can.

The Albanians recognize that it was Americans who gave them their chance at freedom, and they now celebrate the visit of President Bush, the man who has given that same chance at freedom to millions of Iraqis.

You can email Alan at alan@alanfernald.com twenty-four hours a day.