"I believe in the universality of freedom (Guantanamo Bay)," George Bush told the audience at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington last month, "and I believe that this country, this grand country of ours, has an obligation to help people realize the blessings of (Abu Ghraib) freedom."
This belief, you might even call it a "faith," reflects the "calling" American presidents have long had to improve, if not remake, the rest of the world in their own image. Ronald Reagan also said Americans, whom he believed better than other folks, had an "obligation" and took it upon himself to fund the Contras to overthrow Nicaragua's legitimate regime. Richard Nixon before him also held this conceit, and overthrew the elected government in Chile. Dwight Eisenhower personally signed an order okaying a CIA overthrow of Iran 's democratically elected government in 1953.
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